How to live on $432 a month in America • Hacker News Board

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

#731

Post by [deleted] » Sun, May 25, 2025, 2:08 PM UTC

sarchertech wrote: post #710

dangus wrote: post #706

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dude at least 80% of these activities you listed cost a significant amount of money. Musical instruments are the opposite of cheap, knitting materials and art materials (even the cheap stuff) costs money, you can’t legally form a NPO for free and you won’t be able to volunteer very well if you can only physically travel to the center of town on rural public transit or bicycle your way around a wide rural area. The ki…

> Musical instruments are the opposite of cheap You can get a OK used guitar for $300 that will last for years. That’s a few extra shifts at the gas station. > Cooking creatively for a group isn’t really a part of a $300 survival meal planning budget, and it’ll get pretty boring without some of the kitchen equipment that helps with that hobby. If you have your own garden, you can do a lot of creative cooking cheaply.…

[deleted]

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

#732

Post by dangus » Sun, May 25, 2025, 2:30 PM UTC

sarchertech wrote: post #705

dangus wrote: post #686

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don’t mistake my comment as being pro-city at the expense of rural areas. The author isn’t growing any food, they’re just living adjacent to those people. Most manufacturing happens in close proximity to major cities.

The author is ostensibly part of the community that supports the people growing food. Not many people want to live around absolutely no one. Farmers want someone to staff the local convenience store, the local school, the local pharmacy, fire department, etc… Farms need rural infrastructure which is what the anti rural subsidy people don’t seem to understand.

Rural subsidy for agriculture and other purposes makes a ton of sense. And not all rural areas are subsidy areas, many involved in energy and mineral extraction are economic surplus contributors. I have no problem with rural subsidy.

I think part of my objection to this lifestyle is that the author is essentially a burden on their community by their own choice. The community would be healthier economically if this person wasn’t in it.

Now, all of us may eventually become a burden as we age or if we become disabled. But doing it by choice is a different thing philosophically.

It’s bad for the person doing it in that they are going to depend on external factors keeping that lifestyle staying stable. If the library closes [1] or rural public transportation gets cut [2] this author now has to change up their life a whole lot to compensate.

If you’re already a person who generates an economic surplus you can roll with those punches more easily.

It’s bad for the community because this person is consuming more resources than they produce. Everyone in the community is slightly poorer because their tax dollars are supporting an able-bodied person who essentially refuses to work.

People don’t like to admit that they live in a metaphorical anthill. The ants who aren’t working and haven’t saved for retirement are factually a burden. I’m not saying we should all be wage slaves and we must work or else we have no value, but I think the author is essentially describing an undesirable extreme.

[1] https://members.olc.org/news/Details/ohio-house-budget-reduc...

[2] https://www.masstransitmag.com/management/news/55292030/us-d...

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

#733

Post by TheNewsIsHere » Sun, May 25, 2025, 2:30 PM UTC

nativeit wrote: post #589

fragmede wrote: post #578

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Hobbies are only expensive if you let them or want them to be. Climbing gyms aren't cheap. Climbing rocks outdoors is fairly cheap.

Now we’re back to the point where you’ve saved so much money by not carrying health insurance.

That’s the thing about the discussion in this thread, and generally on HN. People just don’t consider that virtually without exception the realities of life, the choices we make, and the choices we can make, all form and are part of systems. Life isn’t a set of unrelated logic exercises.

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

#734

Post by testing22321 » Sun, May 25, 2025, 5:38 PM UTC

dangus wrote: post #728

testing22321 wrote: post #725

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought my last guitar for $50. Cooking a huge moose roast is very cheap when you shot and butchered it yourself. (Rifle was $250) The bike I rode to work everyday cost me a case of beer. The car I drove 50,000km all over Yukon and AK , into the arctic circle a dozen+ times was $450. Registration was $13 a year. If you think you need internet and tv for entertainment, go live in the Yukon. You’ll be so busy doing un…

Assuming your vehicle got around 25mpg you spent about $8000 CAD on gasoline over those 50,000km of driving. Where did that money come from? How much did your legally required car insurance cost? The median rate seems to be around $200 a month from a quick google. Just adding in the most modest vehicle completely destroys the author’s budget. I believe your reality, but I don’t believe in the amount you are romantici…

> Assuming your vehicle got around 25mpg you spent about $8000 CAD on gasoline over those 50,000km of driving. Where did that money come from?

Vehicle got 32-35 mpg. 1.8ltr 4 cyl with selectable 4x4. I had a job.

> How much did your legally required car insurance cost? The median rate seems to be around $200 a month from a quick google.

$550 a year.

> Just adding in the most modest vehicle completely destroys the author’s budget.

Double the authors budget and you live a wicked life and don’t have to work much. I’m talking about living in the most jaw dropping landscapes many people see in their entire lives.

> I believe your reality, but I don’t believe in the amount you are romanticizing it. If it is so amazing why are you not doing it anymore?

I didn’t say it was perfect, but a heck of an adventure and totally doable. I left to drive around Africa for three years. Bigger adventure.

> Because you just told me there’s no need for internet out there because it’s so jaw-dropping amazing, you wouldn’t spend any time on the internet arguing with a loser like me?

I’m not arguing, and you’re not a loser. I’m adding information from my own first hand experience, rather than assumptions and guesswork.

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

#735

Post by trollbridge » Sun, May 25, 2025, 5:50 PM UTC

nocoiner wrote: post #370

hyperpape wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right, which is why it's extremely confusing that the author wrote: > In this case, you could work just one ten-hour shift per week, and in so doing, earn more than 30% of what you need to live well at this particular house with just four days of work per month. What he probably did was write that one shift is more than 30% of what you need, then switched gears to write about four days of work per month, but forgot t…

I read that sentence three times. Pretty sure he was trying to hide the ball, but still not sure where he was hiding it or what exactly the ball was, to be honest.

I mean we're talking about someone who thinks living on $432 a month with absolutely no government assistance and including housing is a reasonable claim to make. (In the comments, he reveals he goes to Mexico for medical care... I'm really curious how one travels round-trip to Mexico from New York on a $432 a month budget.)

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

#736

Post by trollbridge » Sun, May 25, 2025, 5:50 PM UTC

xp84 wrote: post #275

trollbridge wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve never really been super confident with remote jobs - a recession hits and you can’t find another job.

> remote jobs > a recession hits and you can’t find another job. Suppose you avoid all remote work. You live in San Francisco. If a recession hits and you're laid off, now there are 10,000 local unemployed tech workers trying to get 5,000 local jobs. Similar risk of unhappiness. I don't believe that remote positions as a class are more likely to be eliminated than any other, so I just think of jobs located in "Remote…

I'm remote too (sort of), but I do sometimes dislike the fact that the kind of tech jobs I'm best suited for are all an hour+ away.

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

#737

Post by Supermancho » Sun, May 25, 2025, 5:50 PM UTC

rconti wrote: post #261

Supermancho wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Heating a space is easier and cheaper than cooling one. I find the midwest is plenty dry and plenty warm, even with multi-month snowy winters.

It's not though. Even though fuel to heat is vastly cheaper than electricity to cool, the winter thermal difference in a cold climate is an order of magnitude more than the summer thermal difference in a hot climate. https://www.scienceabc.com/eyeopeners/why-does-it-take-more-...

>> Heating a space is easier and cheaper than cooling one.

> It's not though.

It always has been, for humans. Energy cost != financial cost (or ease).

ie You can't settle on the bright side of mercury surface, but you can on the dark side of the moon.

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

#738

Post by sarchertech » Sun, May 25, 2025, 8:10 PM UTC

dangus wrote: post #732

sarchertech wrote: post #705

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The author is ostensibly part of the community that supports the people growing food. Not many people want to live around absolutely no one. Farmers want someone to staff the local convenience store, the local school, the local pharmacy, fire department, etc… Farms need rural infrastructure which is what the anti rural subsidy people don’t seem to understand.

Rural subsidy for agriculture and other purposes makes a ton of sense. And not all rural areas are subsidy areas, many involved in energy and mineral extraction are economic surplus contributors. I have no problem with rural subsidy. I think part of my objection to this lifestyle is that the author is essentially a burden on their community by their own choice. The community would be healthier economically if this pe…

Excluding the possible exception of healthcare I’m not sure what you mean.

The hypothetical person is paying property taxes on the house they own. He’s paying income tax on his income. He’s paying sales tax on the food and necessities he buys.

I live in state with no income tax. If I decide to live in a cheap house, eat cheaply, and save most of my income does that mean I’m a burden on my community because I’m not paying enough property tax and sales tax?

In addition to the taxes he’s paying, he’s taking a previously blighted property, fixing it up, and maintaining it. He’s providing a service to the owner of the gas station by working there a few days a month. He’s presumably purchasing things from local stores instead of driving outside the community to shop. Maybe he’s even volunteering or providing other help to people in the community.

All in exchange for a few library books and some bus trips. I think most communities would love to have him.

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

#739

Post by 47282847 » Sun, May 25, 2025, 9:25 PM UTC

troupo wrote: post #726

47282847 wrote: post #724

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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". Not any, but a sufficiently large amount of options. You may not enjoy those, which translates into “you will need time to adapt to it“, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. I meet with most of my friends der outdoors, for walks and hiking. We bring our own bottled ta…

> > 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". > Not any, but a sufficiently large amount of options. ... > tents, blankets, bikes, train rides, bakery... (also, depending on amount of hiking also shoes, backpacks and some other gear) To quote myself, "Oh, I'm sure you do plenty [of things], you just don't assume…

Ok, so you feel not heard with what you wrote, and thus assumed I didn’t read what you wrote. Sounds like you feel attacked by my perspective, and misunderstood. And then turned it completely unnecessarily into an insinuation. I understand this is standard procedure for many but I am not interested in insinuations and consider them to be violent speech. There are other ways to express discontent.

I’ve been gifted 3 used tents in my life, and offered a lot more. You do not even need your own and can join friends in theirs. In most places there are free bikes that need less than $20 in parts to repair. Friends of mine collect free bikes by the dozen and repair them in their community bike shop, as volunteers for a non-profit. And so on. Nowhere did I mean to imply that you might not benefit from money. The topic is not about free living, but living on the cheap.

That being said, I know people who lived completely moneyless on purpose, as a challenge, a life experience, and without suffering/unfulfilled needs.

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

#740

Post by ars » Sun, May 25, 2025, 10:01 PM UTC

dangus wrote: post #732

sarchertech wrote: post #705

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The author is ostensibly part of the community that supports the people growing food. Not many people want to live around absolutely no one. Farmers want someone to staff the local convenience store, the local school, the local pharmacy, fire department, etc… Farms need rural infrastructure which is what the anti rural subsidy people don’t seem to understand.

Rural subsidy for agriculture and other purposes makes a ton of sense. And not all rural areas are subsidy areas, many involved in energy and mineral extraction are economic surplus contributors. I have no problem with rural subsidy. I think part of my objection to this lifestyle is that the author is essentially a burden on their community by their own choice. The community would be healthier economically if this pe…

> The community would be healthier economically if this person wasn’t in it.

Not everything is about money. A healthy rural society has a variety of people in it, some bring in more money that others, but the mix is necessary. Otherwise people will leave.

This guy for example seems to be able to write, and has lots of spare time. Perhaps he helps his neighbors. There's no money involved, but the entire community is better off.