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I wonder myself how people say they live on $24-$30,000 a year. I have cut my expenses here in Florida to what I feel is absolute minimum. I live in a small older 2 bedroom, with taxes under $1,000 (at the moment) House is paid for. I can't do my own yard work, so that costs me $100 a month, and as I have physical limitations and can't bend easily, I have a cleaning girl once a month for $80. Those are my "luxury items". I also have to hire a handyman when something needs repairs, so that can be costly also. The only area I can see cutting back on here is AC, if I was willing to sweat (which I'm not) and eating cheaper. Maybe more sandwiches, and eggs or french toast for dinner instead of a meat and vegetable.
But in reading others post on this subject before and giving some of their expenses, I am of a mindset there may be other areas where one can live cheaper, where all costs are lower. (utilities, internet, groceries, insurance etc.)
I know I have to pay $65 a month for internet, where as I have heard many claim they only pay $20-$40 a month for internet. I have not experienced living in lower cost areas myself, so it is only a guess. I have noticed on a couple of occasions when traveling to a town north of me about an hour, which is not so upscale as my area, a slight difference in cost of groceries. (unless they were just on sale at the time)
I'd be interested in hearing someones first hand experience in moving from one area to the next, and finding most costs lower. I would not include San Francisco, Ca. or New York City or any expensive areas. But more along the lines of moving from Arizona to Oklahoma, or Pennsylvania to North Carolina or Tenn. Something along those lines.
Have you made such a move? What did you find?
I have mostly lived all over Arizona, with brief stints in Connecticut and New York. Where I live now is truly cheap in the same way that Oklahoma or Mississippi might be because the town is very downtrodden and there are few families that would qualify as even modestly wealthy. That being said, a bare bones budget that included income taxes, health insurance and every other detail that I could think of still added up to $42K with no house payment, no car payment and property taxes of a mere $450. As stated, the taxes and health insurance are half of the $42K, with realistic estimates for house and vehicle maintenance and other unavoidable expenses. While people may indeed raise three kids on $25K, that's more what I call "survival" and I wouldn't be retiring if I had to live the way they do.
My problem is that I like landmark/historic hotels...
It all depends upon how one lives. I survive on $24,000 a year. It is becoming increasingly difficult in the city where I live so I eventually plan to live in a city with a lower COL.
Everyone's situation is different. Some need less than others. Many have no choice and make do very nicely on what they have. I don't believe there is any one set amount everyone must have to live.
Sure, I would like to have more. But I don't. So making do is a top priority. Not so hard once you get the hang of it.
I on the other hand find it hard to imagine having all that money to spend, if I had 40k a year. Last year was a very spendy year for me and I came it at 23k. I had car repairs over 1k. I bought a new kitchen stove over $600. I did some landscaping which came in over 1k.
I pay my own health insurance and have a 5k deductible and had some health bills this year. Oh, and I forgot, I went on a trip with my brother and sil. That cost about 1200. Making it stretch as far as I can is a top priorty for me too. I can wish it was different, but it isn't!
My pension runs less than $18k/annum, from it I pay into SS. It provides health insurance to us, which costs us $500/yr enrollment fee.
After we lost our last apartment complex, my Dw was working p/t, our combined income was below the bottom tax bracket, so we were not paying any income taxes. Last year my Dw got a promotion, which bumped us 'up' into having a tax obligation. Since the 80s we had been using our collection of apartment complexes to shelter us from income taxes. We miss that.
My Dw drives a new 2012 vehicle which we pay $250/mo, and I have a tractor which we pay $220/mo for. Property taxes are < $1k/annum on our home and 150 acres of forest with river frontage.
We have been building; a house and farm. Where we spend $1k - $2k/mo on materials. Once our building phase is completed, and we are both on pensions, we will 'require' about 20% of our combined pension incomes for living expenses.
as it has been discussed, much depends on where and how you live. i live in delaware, where there is no sales tax and real estate taxes, at least for someone over 65, are low. i have a 1900 sq. ft townhouse which is generally fairly easy to maintain and reasonable as far as as heating and cooling costs. my real estate taxes are less than $1000 a year.
i have about $50,000 a year with two pensions( mine and my late husband's ) and social security. i have medicare and medicare supplementary insurance, as well as dental insurance of about $288 per year, through my husband's pension. i have a small mortgage and no other debt.
i generally live as well or better than i did when i was working. i eat out( lunch or dinner ) about twice a week, spend most of my discretionary income on books,newspapers, magazine subscriptions, cd's, and occasional concerts and courses. i do not spend much on travel, as this has never been a priority, except for a few short trips, usually local, taken throughout the year. if i wanted to do major and extensive travel- luxury cruises, several weeks in europe etc.- that would be much more difficult on my income.
frankly, i have never been frugal, and there have been a few times in the past when my husband and i were both working that we lived above our income. but now, i would say that i live reasonably with the income i have and have some money to save and invest in some months . actually i'm surprised sometimes that i do as well as i do in retirement, although some of this is due to living in an area where cost of listing is moderate, and there are tax breaks for seniors.
Well, when you consider that income taxes run in the neighborhood of $8K, health insurance exceeds $12K, and one does actually have to eat, put gas in the car, repair the roof when it leaks and pay the utilities, property taxes, car insurance, etc., those who claim to live on substantially less than $40K must be eating sand and living in tents. $42K was my "bare bones" budget; since I do play a fair amount of golf and whatnot, I'm thinking the reality will be more like $55K, but we'll see.
I live in Toronto Canada and I am very curious why some Americans could live on $24K whereas other Americans said the minimum was $42K.
I noticed health insurance costs a lot in the US, in this case around $12,000/year, plus taxes ...
I was wondering those who claim they survive on $24K if they have company health insurance that pays 100% of the costs ?
My health insurance budget is $0 in Canada as we have universal health care but the drug co pay is $50/year/person, we pay 20% on dental through company medical/dental plan.
The top up out-of-country (out of Canada) health insurance quotes for 6 months is from $280 to $500 for 6 months (not 1 month), no pre existing condition (cost will increase when we get older).
Well, here in Philadelphia there are public health clinics that include medical, dental, and pharmacy care. It used to be free for the unemployed, seniors, and children, but now they charge a very modest fee if you can prove you make less than a certain amount. The quality of the health care is rather good and I really like my doctor at the clinic, however on some days the waiting time can be quite long. My prescription drugs are mostly free. Vaccinations are free. I had comprehensive blood work done in the lab and that didn't cost me anything either.
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