Can you live off minimum wage in Los angeles? Let's see.. (San Gabriel: section 8, sales)

[minimumwage]

What if you have student loans and health insuirance to pay? (I have an expensive chronic condition and absolutely need insurance.)

Could you live on minimum wage then?

[BreaOC]

Originally Posted by Josh22

At first I always used to think no, not even possible. Although now looking at it may be possible.

If you work the standard full time 40 hours a week:

$6.75 X 8 hours a day = $54 per day

$54 a day X 22 days a month = $1,188 dollars per month, BEFORE TAXES. After taxes (about 10% estimated), you'll have $1,070 left after taxes in a full time minimum wage job.

Here's the amazing thing about Cali, our minimum wage is now $8/hr as of Jan 1 '08. Here's the crappy thing about Cali, figure your taxes closer to 20-30% of your paycheck. Of course it depends on what you claim, but the benefits Cali offers you (ex: disability pay) has to come from somewhere, and it's one of the taxes you pay every one or two weeks. Consider that at $8/hr you are pulling in $16640/year which more than qualifies you for reduced housing, so hopefully you can stay out of those sketchier areas. Also consider that a lot of large corporate retailers offer benefits even to their PT employees. Places like Starbucks, Lowe's, and McDonald's are some of the big ones and there are many many more. You wouldn't be living extravagant by any means but it is possible.

[mysticaltyger]

One mistake that was made was that minimum wage in CA is now $8.00 per hour....so that would give a person a higher income.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by marilyn220

I honestly don't know why the homeless just don't go back to where they came from?? Many of them are not born and bred Californians. They must have family somewhere.

A lot of these people come from terrible families in the first place. And even if they don't, a lot of them have burned their bridges with family through drug addiction, alcholism, and general bad decisions they've made.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by speedoflight

Sure, you can live off minimum wage in LA or in CA. There are many, many people who do. You will have to get used to the just the basics of life, cut back on everything and live in a roommate situation or take advantage of the state's cheap housing programs. need is food, shelter and clothes to keep warm. The rest are all nice to haves.

I agree. I have a friend who makes like $10 an hour. She lives in a cooperative in Pomona and goes to school and does not work full time. She pays her public university tuition every semester in cash. Her rent in the co-op is $185 per month including utilities. She owns no car. They buy a lot of their groceries collectively and eat communal dinners. She's a vegan so that saves money also. She almost never eats out. She doesn't have much left over but isn't broke and is in good health. She's lucky that her (cheap) health insurance is included in her tuition. She does not take food stamps or anything like that, although she has had to use county medical services to see a specialist one time.

She probably spends 8K to 9K per year and is one of the happier people I know.

[motoman]

I dated a girl that made minimum type wages working at Barnes & Noble.

She rents a room from a couple in Hawthorne. She has a car that is paid off (she used to make more money than she does now), but she can't afford basic maintenance on it. Her commute to work is about 4 miles, so she doesn't spend a lot on gas. By the way, gas in California is over $3 per gallon. Even in the lower income areas it is currently about $3.10 or so for regular.

B&N paid her health insurance, but I doubt it was paid 100%. Most employers don't pay 100%.

I don't know what she spent on food, but it was very little. Maybe $5-$10 per day for three meals. I think sometimes she didn't eat because she couldn't afford to. She loved it when I took her out to dinner because she could get a full, good meal.

After just her rent, the little bit of gas she used, food, taxes, and health insurance, she had very little money leftover, if anything. She did have a basic cell phone plan. I know her parents helped her out financially on several occasions just in the year we dated.

I can also say that she did not have money to buy clothes. The last clothes she bought was with a gift card I gave her for her birthday last year.

Can you live on minimum wage? I guess it depends on what you consider living. If staying alive is considered living, then yes. You can do that being homeless and jobless. But if you would like anything more than that, no, you really can't.

[Jakehorror]

This is a useful thread. I've often got the jitters about my wife & I making it out there. The only bills we have are car payment, insurance, gas and cell phone. Plan on selling the car and buying a cheaper one cash. Also we'll most likely be renting a room somehwhere so we wont have a huge rent like in apartment communities. Keeping our fingers crossed and hoping for the best.

[sponger42]

Haha, it's funny to hear pampered people try to estimate the cost of living cheap.

Food: $2.50/day - shop at local (usually latino) markets for cheap vegetables, rice, noodles, and a little meat. My meals actually run around $1.50/day, but I'm being conservative.

Transportation: One-time $28 expense - For a thrift store bicycle in good shape ($10 if you've already got time and tools to repair one that's in bad shape), plus a one-time $15 expense for a good lock. If you're working for minimum wage, there's no way you should need to commute more than 2-3 miles and that's an easy bike ride.
Alternatively, you could pay $54/month for bus fare. I've bussed and biked to work for years. Nothing wrong with it, and you can laugh at all the suckers paying $0.64/mile in their cars. Public transit goes everywhere you need to go in LA, it just takes a while. No need for cars.

Rent: No single person should pay more than $500/month anywhere in LA. I once went as high as $525 but only for 6 months. There's ultra-cheap solutions, and there's $700-800 1br/ba in most decent areas if you want to get really fancy and also live by yourself. You can get your own room in a decent area for $400 or less. Furthermore, if you're living on minimums, you have fewer worries about living in "bad" neighborhoods because it's not worth burglarizing or mugging you, and if you do get robbed, you don't lose much. You're less likely to get hurt because you won't feel inclined to defend the $5 in your wallet. Contrary to popular opinion among those who have never been to South-Central--except maybe driving through with their windows up and doors locked--it's fairly unlikely that you're going to be shot or stabbed at random for no good reason, even in the rougher parts of the city.

Gas/Water/Electric: Usually included in the $400 if you're just renting a room. No more than $30/month if you are conservative. Most of LA proper doesn't require heating or cooling during the year, and you can find CFL's in thrift stores for $1 (or $2 apiece from hardware stores). You'll just be paying for cooking, showers, and refridgeration. I guess TV too, but did you really move to the city to waste your life staring at the boob tube? Add $10/month for laundry and sundries to be conservative.

Incidentals: A little hunting in thrift stores will net you high-quality fashionable clothing on the order of $5/garment if you know where to look and what to look for. Entertainment is a huge expense. It's a good idea to take up a free hobby or sport. Basketball and soccer are good sports available pretty much anywhere at basically no cost. Museums have free days and clubs usually don't have covers early--or you can get to know the owner--but you still have to pay for the alcohol.

A cell phone is a fairly essential tool. There's ways around it, but it is so useful, it really pays to have one. $30/month.

Given all this:
Income: $8/hr * 40hrs * 50wks (assume 2 wks unpaid vacation/sick) * 0.88 taxes / 12 months = $1173/month
Food Expense: 2.50/day * 7days/wk * 52 wks/yr / 12 month/year = 75.83 / mo round up to = $100/mo
Rent = $500/mo
Transport = $54/mo
Utilities = $40/mo
Phone = $30/mo
Income ($1173) - Expense ($724) = $449 Remainder/month. That's a round-trip ticket (off-season) to Hawaii twice a month, food/clothing/house for your family back in the home country, or about half of the premium on a good health insurance plan

Now, is it fun to live this way? Not really. Can it be done? Sure. Would I recommend it? Not really, unless you really want to live here--or if you're already here and you need to save up money for something.

...

Jakehorror: What's your projected income, where (geographically in Socal) do you want to live, and what is your long-term goal (education, savings, buy a house, have kids, move overseas, etc)? I can give you some tips. You can use the direct message if you want.

[JackSparrow]

Flawed on too many levels to count.

[sponger42]

Originally Posted by JackSparrow

Flawed on too many levels to count.

Interesting, because I live this way. Care to point out how my lifestyle is impossible?