Income level needed for a family of 3 to live comfortably? (Honolulu: 2013, rent)

[hotzcatz]

How much for a family of three to live comfortably depends on the family. If you share a house with your extended family and eat out at plate lunch places and spend your time on the beach, it will be less expensive than if you rent a house and eat out at fancy places and go for entertainment that costs money.

Do you buy prepared foods that have to be shipped in from somewhere else? That's $$$$. Do you buy ingredients, especially local ingredients, as they are on sale and cook at home? Much less expensive.

Can you commute to work via the bus and just keep one car on hand? Save tons of money that way as well as aggravation of driving in traffic.

How much debt are you starting out with? Make a budget and ask for ballpark Hawaii numbers for line items that you aren't sure about.

[whtviper1]

Originally Posted by hotzcatz

If you share a house with your extended family and eat out at plate lunch places

Gosh, Hotzcatz - I like your posts - but those plate lunches are so freaking unhealthy - you may save on the actual lunch but pay for it in the long run with health problems - I mean, look at the typical person in line for the mystery meat plate lunch - usually really big people. Samoan like. I've driven or walked by a plate lunch places all the time and never see mostly in shape people in line.

Eat salads if you want to go down the cheap eat route. Or the $1 menu at McDonalds.

http://www.gadling.com/2011/10/12/an...n-plate-lunch/

"At its most basic, the plate lunch is two scoops of white rice, a scoop of macaroni salad, thick with mayonnaise, and a serving of meat. Fried, probably, though you can also get two grilled Portuguese sausage patties or a serving of garlic shrimp. Plate lunch typically comes on a flimsy paper or other throwaway plate, or in a Styrofoam container that you can carry across the street to that picnic bench that's makai -- ocean side -- from the food truck. It generates a shocking amount of garbage, the containers, the napkins, the plastic forks and knives. The classic plate lunch is unhealthy, environmentally unfriendly, and awesome."

A one off meal - sure - as a regular diet, probably will kill you early.

[hunterseat]

bleh... McD's

I'd never heard a waitress ask "what kind of starch would you like with that?" until I came here.

Again, a shift in reality. My family is actually beginning to like spam. I'm holding out! *gag*

I love wihat Hotzcatz said there! ^

[whtviper1]

Originally Posted by hunterseat

My family is actually beginning to like spam. I'm holding out!

Keep holding out if you want to live long:

Good for Your Wallet, Bad for Your Health: 5 Cheap Foods to Avoid LearnVest



Spam

Spam is one of the common cheap food staples for anyone who is trying to save some cash. It is a canned, precooked meat mixture that is often referred to as mystery meat.
Why it’s not good for you: A single serving of spam has about 53% of the recommended amount of sodium. It’s high in cholesterol and fat, and it has no nutrients or vitamins.

[CyberCity]

Spam .... baaaahhhhh. Knowledgeable home-chefs who use canned meat buy Canned Corned Beef.

[hunterseat]

no way! My mom always made corned beef and cabbage with that stuff and I loved it!

[hotzcatz]

Did you ever get to Masa's Massive Plate Lunch before they closed down? They used to be across from Likelike Drive Inn but moved to Kalihi after their original location got turned into WalMart or some other big box store. Masa's was a serious plate lunch! Sure, it had the usual two scoop rice and side of potato/mac salad but they'd add in enough meat that you couldn't close the lid and the thing would weigh about five pounds. Total heart attack immediately upon eating it. They were great plate lunches.

Best way to eat plate lunch is with friends. Like two or three friends sharing one plate lunch. Or eat a little bit and take the rest home for dinner and leftovers for breakfast the next morning.

Specially Processed American Meat, what's not to like? Sliced, fried and wrapped in seaweed is a fav.

The whole thing with plate lunches and SPAM is to not eat a whole lot of them. Plate lunch everyday is gonna do you in real quick, same same SPAM, but as an occasional sort of thing it's pretty good. I'd guess that if you eat a Big Mac everyday you'll last about as long as eating a plate lunch every day. Hey, let's get a government grant and study it! We'd probably have to test it on rats or some other unsuspecting victims, though.

[Jungjohann]

masa massive plate lunch!!!!!! Now we're talking!!!!!!!!!! I had a crew working in Kalihi on the affordable rental housing across from Farrington, would go by and check on them. One day I stop by as they're having lunch. Plate lunch from Masas..... The legendary, heart stopping, mac/potato 2 scoop rice, 38oz of sodium per mouthful..... MASSIVE!!!!!!!!!!!! Man, that was a lot of food, none of it very good, but a lot of food... Vipe would have probably stroked out just driving by the place!!!!

but it was a LOT of food

Luv ya Hotzcatz, the only other person here who was actually here...................

[CyberCity]

Originally Posted by Jungjohann

Luv ya Hotzcatz, the only other person here who was actually here...................

Really?

[Jungjohann]

Originally Posted by CyberCity

Really?

Not to derail things too much, but the majority of the folks who post here haven't lived in Hawaii for more than a couple of years, and have no personal knowledge of what Hawaii was like 10 years ago, let alone 25 years ago.. Just sayin........

Alaho