Could you live on 1K a month if you were alone and house was paid off? (places, average)

[shokwaverider]

I just did our monthly expenses for 2017. We live in a somewhat affluent county in Florida. Homes in our area/development average around $450k at the low end, $850 at the median (Where we are that is) to ~Infinity.

We average $1800pm Mandatory Expenses (Not Food, but EVERYTHING Else, Taxes, HOA, Utilities, Insurance, House Maintenance, etc.) That is just living.

[LillyLillyLilly]

In Idaho you can. You make a lot of sacrifices, like I don't have cable or a cell phone. My entertainment is the internet and DVDs borrowed from the library. But with that income, and if you're senior or disabled, you can get a circuit breaker that will pay your property taxes. Idaho is one of the few states that doesn't require that to be repaid with a lien on the home.

Food - $300/mo
Gas/Elec/Water/Sewer/Trash - $120/mo (no air conditioner and furnace at 65 - AC will add $200/mo from June thru Oct.)
Phone/Internet - $100/mo
Car Ins - $300/year (seldom drive so I have an old beater with minimum legal insurance) (edited to add, Idaho allows insurance companies to base rates on your credit rating. So the previous amount is based on an excellent rating.)
Car Reg - $80/year
Home Ins - $600/year for about $130K on the structure itself
Gas prices are usually some of the highest in the country but I only fill up 2 or 3 times a year. I walk everywhere.

So as long as you don't have a lot of medical bills, you could get along fine here.

[bigdogmom13]

Originally Posted by Hefe

If my SS was $1K/mo & I had no other income or kids I would move to Chiang Mai Thailand... for real, no kidding. I would have a good life with a community of western expats in a nice city that is cheap & fun, $200-300/mo for housing, save $200/mo for medical & $500 to "squander" each month. No way I would try to barely survive here on that kind of meager, miserable existence always stressed about not making it.

I wouldn't, but I have a friend who retired about 20 years ago and that's where he lives. He has a great life there!

[Ceece]

Nope. But if my house was paid off I could sell it and live off the proceeds + that $1k for quite awhile in a lower COL area.

[augiedogie]

Sure, there are ways. You just have to be creative. It would help to have a small place with low property taxes and insur.

[vicky3vicky]

Originally Posted by Eeko156

Guess I wouldn't need clothes if I wasn't working. 99% of clothes I buy are for the office.

$ 150.00 (HOI & taxes) - small house, under 100K
$ 300.00 groceries & pet supplies
$ 150.00 electric (I prefer a cold thermostat, but I could live with it hotter if I have to)
$ 50.00 (water, trash & sewer) - not sure this is accurate?
$ 60.00 basic net
No cable, I'll get a Leaf Antenna so I can pick up the news and the major networks.

That leaves me quite a bit. Maybe it's doable.

What do you guys pay for trash/sewer/water ?

I think you could do it, but it would be difficult. You did not mention healthcare, but depending on where you live, you could probably get medicaid. You also did not mention transportation. Perhaps your city has bus rates for seniors that are inexpensive or even free.

I also have a low income [larger than yours, but there are 4 of us] a paid off house with low taxes and insurance. You want to do more than just survive. And sometimes that is not free. I will just share a few things that we do that enables us to thrive.

1] Bobby and I do online surveys for an hour and a half every morning while we drink our coffee and just relax. We enjoy these and bring in a few hundred extra dollars or gift cards a month. We also receive products to try and keep. These are ussually products that are not yet on the market and pretty cool.

2] We have bees, chickens, a nigerian dwarf goat in milk [many counties allow them as pets] and a nice little vegetable garden. These save us money and bring us joy.

3] We are leaving next week for a back2back Carribean cruise. Our house will be rented from the 15th until the 15th of next month by some people who love to ski, want to be in the mountains, and are willing to drive a little over an hour from the slopes in order to pay less than a quarter [way less than a quarter] of the amountof money if they were renting in an actual ski town. I found tremendous rates on the cruise and we will be visiting friends and family afterwards. We would have actually come out ahead financially of what staying at home would cost if we were not paying someone to take care of our "babies."

4] I make some jewelry in my spare time. I do not personally make a dime off of it, because this is an activity that is part of fund raising, but you could make money off of your hobby, whatever it is.

5]We buy food on sale, cook it, and store it in our freezer. This saves us time and money. I particularly like to do large batch cooking when it is super cold outside because it helps heat the house a little.

6] I do not do these next things, but used to, and intend to start them up in the future. I used to get most of my entrees and all of my food treats for free. I did this by a form of bartering. If the other person paid for the supplies I would make, say 2 lasagnas, or 2 pies, or 2 meatloaves, whatever, and I would keep one for my own family. You would be surprised how many people will jump at this.

I also used to have "Goddess" parties. Everyone would bring a food item to share. The only rule was that the shared item would have to be either crazy healthy or sinfully decadent, nothing in between. If anyone had clothing or other items that they were tired of, they would bring them and put them in a pile where anyone could help themselves. Some would bring nail polish and such, and we would give each other manis, pedis, massages, etc. I have not gotten close enough to people in our town yet, but I am hoping to eventually start doing this again. It will take a while, because we moved to Pueblo when Bobby retired, but after being robbed at gunpoint in our own home and NOT being able to really get over it, we moved to the mountains and have spent most of our time making our home habitable and beautiful.

7] I almost forgot. We have, somewhat, a roommate. He is actually the first member of our Autistic community. He pays us $375 a month [for his room, homemade meals, utilities, washer/dryer, cable, etc.] and that helps us out so much financially, plus he has become an awesome family member.


What you want to do is doable, but with a little creativity you can enjoy a life of luxury on a poverty income.

[loveautumn]

Nope, my rent alone is almost double that. That’s why I need to move from California!

[ss20ts]

Originally Posted by jonesg

Say wha?
Maybe if you live in Manhattan you'd pay that for car ins.

I don't live in Manhattan and I pay $110 a month for auto insurance on 1 SUV with 2 drivers over 40 with no tickets or accidents. Auto insurance isn't cheap in many states.

[ss20ts]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

We've had this thread before. If you cook all your own food, buy bulk and freeze, and do cost control on what you put in your shopping cart, you can do it for $100/month. No prepared/processed foods at all. Tap water instead of soda. Protein sources like boneless chicken and pork loin that are $2.00/pound with no waste. Walmart and discount grocer eggs are cheap. Bulk frozen vegetables. Beans/legumes, rice, potatoes. Learn how to bake. It's pretty easy. Way more than half the population on the planet has a lower food budget than that. They're not eating frozen microwave entrees and take-out.

You won't find any meat here for $2 a pound. In many areas, you won't find meat for $2 a pound. There is no way I could feed myself for $100 a month. And I do cook from scratch. I drink water all day long. Egg prices vary weekly sometimes even daily. They're around $2 a dozen right now. We only buy frozen veggies not canned. We buy a lot of fresh produce. You can't feed yourself here for $100 a month. Well maybe if you ate an apple every day and a slice of bread. Not exactly nutritious.

[shokwaverider]

Originally Posted by ss20ts

I don't live in Manhattan and I pay $110 a month for auto insurance on 1 SUV with 2 drivers over 40 with no tickets or accidents. Auto insurance isn't cheap in many states.

2018 BMW cost us $360 for 6 Months Here. You need a new insurance company... maybe.