How do people survive making 40k a year? (Alaska, Nebraska, New York)

[Lowexpectations]

Originally Posted by Submariner

Really?

The last three I posted all had their threads deleted by the Mods.

the comment was that I was beginning to look like a realtor by sharing those homes.
.

Well I was talking about this thread. The house you posted was trash, but if you were posting frequently enough I could see their rationale

[Icemodeled]

My husband makes this income but he also brings in extra from a side hustle (so $56k roughly annual). Health insurance for family is insane and takes a good chunk of his pay. We are thankful to have a paid off house and cars. I can't imagine having mortgage and car loans. We live just fine, never feel we miss out on anything. Take yearly vacation and trips, occasionally go out to eat(really with the rising costs we just don't feel its worth it for us now) but we enjoy activities, camping, have park passed(we live in Florida). We also bought at the right time in 2016 before pricing skyrocketed. Our house is worth 3x what we paid.

[foulball]

Originally Posted by Submariner

I get the impression that most of our fellow posters are urban. They live in extremely high COL cities, and through normalcy bias they have grown accustomed to that is how all life is, without regard for the fact that 99.95% of our nation is rural and low COL.

I have posted many times sharing homes starting at $40k, each time it is immediately swamped with complaints that it is not located in an expensive city.

We see what is going on here.

Urbanites like to whine about how horrible life is living in expensive cities, but dont dare suggesting that any of them leave the expensive city in favor of a low COL area.

You speak nothing but the truth.

[fishbrains]

Originally Posted by Submariner

I get the impression that most of our fellow posters are urban. They live in extremely high COL cities, and through normalcy bias they have grown accustomed to that is how all life is, without regard for the fact that 99.95% of our nation is rural and low COL.

I have posted many times sharing homes starting at $40k, each time it is immediately swamped with complaints that it is not located in an expensive city.

We see what is going on here.

Urbanites like to whine about how horrible life is living in expensive cities, but dont dare suggesting that any of them leave the expensive city in favor of a low COL area.

Originally Posted by foulball

You speak nothing but the truth.

Actually, his post is misleading and irrelevant.

While the majority of the country, in terms of land, is rural, so what? The housing stock does not exist to support the 80% or more of the population that lives in urban and suburban areas. Neither does the infrastructure exists to support a quick expansion of housing stock in these areas.

The reason some houses in rural areas sell so inexpensively is that they are selling for the cost of the land, or quite close to it. The actual cost of materials and labor for the structures cannot be recouped due to the urban shift of our population. Should people from the cities start to adopt a rural lifestyle in any real numbers, it will cause rural prices to skyrocket.

Prices are roughly proportionate to the number of people who want to live in a place. Houses in Buffalo and Cleveland were selling for $1 because nobody wanted to live in deserted areas of rust belt cities. If we see a migration of people from urban to rural areas, rural prices go up, and urban prices go down.

[msRB311]

At the end of the day I'm not sure why so many people care about how someone else survives on 40k. It isn't hard to figure out how someone survives on 40k, they simply have less than someone who makes 100k.

It kind of seems like this post was created to give the OP an ago boost about making more than 40k along with the many people who responded. Was the intention here to help people in need who don't make enough? I don't think so. Sadly there are a lot of poor people in this country and probably plenty of people making 40k a year who do just fine based on where they live.

[Serious Conversation]

I'm in a small city in northeast TN. No state income tax. Property taxes (city + county) are about 1% of the property value annually. ~$35 auto registration rate for any car. Reasonable electric, water, and auto insurance rates.

It's tough to make it on that wage, even here. Renting a 1BR is probably going to be at least $700/month unless you're way out in the sticks, then you have increased commuting costs.

You're going to be driving an older used car at that wage. More repairs, etc.

If you're single, the best way is to have a roommate. Splitting the cost of living helps reduce those bills.

[PoorYetRich]

Married Couple- mid 50's married couple-Income 20k a yr.

He has schizophrenia, I am Bi-Polar.

Met DH while we were confined to a mental facility in our early 20's.he had spent 2 years in jail for attempted murder in his teens. After forced medicated, he got better. We worked in the facility kitchen. Normally men and women are segregated. We became very close. Somehow released at the exact same day and time but my parents felt it was planned.

Married soon after which cut our SSI disability by $200. No way to afford a rental and food at once. My parents bought us an RV and we moved to a small tourist town where they owned land and a very small home, population 160. Parents came up weekends for half the year, weather permitting (unbelievable snow here). Federal campgrounds, rivers, lakes, fisherman, cyclists, all kinds are drawn here.

My husband lost his SSI disability by then, which made him loose his health insurance. He told his worker he earned $100 a month that month. My parents paid for his medication the first 2 months but could only afford half the month so we rationed it giving him half. Now he was off couch and had energy to do stuff. He was prescribed way too much medication but the alternative was he could hurt someone

We knew how to work in a kitchen from the mental facility so started working at a restaurant. My husband couldn't do it due to stress and after a short time, i started having episodes. A job at the city dump came open. Word must've got around he helps people. Many are retired here and in the snow, there isn't much laborers. He would do it for free then go check on them. We also joined Search & Rescue. No one else wanted to work at the dump for min wage/ 3 days a week for just 4.5 hrs a day. Wealthy people live here. Mostly retired. They were shocked to learn of his criminal background (he says) so explained he had schizophrenia. Later they suggested that I work there. Llearned it to do most of it unless it was labor intensive. It worked out well and there came open a program by the manufacturer to apply to receive expensive medication for free for a while. DH was now taking about 75% his medication he once had taken. Rationed 25% to stretch it out. The psychiatrist over-prescribed him knowing we had limited funds so we could make it last

I got pregnant. His vacectomy didn't take. We lived in An RV on my parents land still. Befriended a great guy who owned a hobby Nursery which was open just 2 months a year in an adjacent town. He sold what he grew on his property all year. Retired military guy. We had so much in common! Helped him for free and he traded with vegetable starter pants and fruit trees. Soon we were digging up a seep making a pond on my parents land. He still visits once a week to fish or use a net to take them out or comes for dinner. Within a few years, fish pond stocked (they would fish together) with plentiful vegetables. Fruit trees took longer. Lived near cattle ranchers, a seasonal horse riding stable with plenty of manure. Eventually raised chickens & goats. Eating so well, he cut his meds by 50%.
I lost my SSI when I started working at the dump so had no health insurance. Enrolled in the same program by the drugs manufacturer so had medication for 4 yrs. Overprescribed so I could make it last. During pregnancy I had health insurance so could rinse and repeat for another couple years. We parked our RV on the dump grounds so we could alternate taking care of our baby while at work. A small town meant many would knock on the door wanting to see her. So free babysitting for 5-10 minutes able to help others.

Our daughter was home schooled like every kid in town. We utilized a medical discount program funded by the cigarette tax paying just $50 a month for her health insurance thru Kaiser Permanente. She was also involved in a school ski program at no cost (as P.E in school) and attending real classroom with Teacher 2x a week for 5.5 hrs a day.

At that point, we raised farm animals to help pay for my medication. We were eating so healthy my medicationwas reduced dramatically so it wasn't a huge cost burden. Medication decreased in price was most of it.The kids loved the farm animals. We also went to church together. My parents passed away so we inherited the small 600 sq foot house, the large barn and the 2 acre land. We missed them, and their support with our daughter. Coming up most weekends for half the year, they were turning into farmers

We moved into the house and rented out the RV seasonally. Our daughter learned farming, growing food, health, etc. She is bi-polar too yet got married to this autistic guy who isn't very friendly but a good guy. Major low stress as he doesn't say much and they don't fight at all. A solid marriage. He became a CPA and she does caregiving 2 weekends a month plus doing seasonal taxes. They live in a 800 sq foot rental condo about 1 hr from us.

keys to success

ᕯ Grow & raise what we eat
ᕯ Transport is E-Bikes & Mtn Bikes we ride 1/2 the yr.
ᕯ Uninsured shared 2015 pick up truck (used mainly winter months) Town is a little over a 1/2 mile long and walking distance.
ᕯ Do dishes, clean at a restaurant- End of May thru about March- 2 hrs a day or so. Paid in gift certificates.
ᕯ I work 3 days a wk/4.5 hr shifts at the city dump
*A retired 50 year old Veterinarian cleans our teeth bartering our chickens eggs. We see our real dentist every other year. We do not have cavities since we use an electric toothbrush and brush our teeth all day.
ᕯ Most of our diet is berries we ration to last all year. Late Aug-Middle of Sept we pick wild berries for hours at the river.
ᕯ Organic bananas for $1 a bunch, over-ripened, 1x a week.
ᕯ Our hobbies are exercise. Some of our food is foraged
ᕯ We volunteer for Search & Rescue
ᕯ No money donation to church. Instead we give our 3 Elder/Pastors $75 monthly gift certificates a local restaurant(s) we've acquired from barter. We head a yearly flea market for the church which is a donation to our missionaries. We also use the gift certificates taking our daughter and son in law out when they visit.
ᕯFederal campgrounds within 5-10 miles adjacent lakes/rivers. I use the leftover fire pit ashes to make soap.
ᕯ We give crafts, homemade soaps, jam & homemade maple syrup as gifts.
ᕯ We shop at thrift stores for clothing or any household needs.
ᕯ We sell a little on ebay to cover our technological needs when it's time to buy a new computer, phone, etc.
ᕯ Husband collects the dump freebies and fixes stuff then puts it on Craigslist. Sometimes Ebay. I estimate this pulls in about 8k a year. This IS reported INCOME. He contributes 2k a year to his IRA. The only un-reported income is our trades with the local restaurants.
ᕯ No health insurance. We pay about $40 a month for our medications.
ᕯ Socialization is mainly half the year. The weather is awful and we tend to go into hiding only seeing close friends for dinner 1x a month to keep in touch. We really don't leave much, eat whatever I've canned or dehydrated, or froze.
ᕯ We kill one chicken per month to make pots of soup, casseroles etc. Usually the one that stopped laying.
ᕯ Make our bread (breadmaker)
ᕯ Solar run 600 sq foot home. PG&E also
ᕯ Firewood for heat
ᕯ 2k a year contributed to each of our IRA's for the last 15 yrs or so.

Not having a vehicle is most challenging. We have one for emergencies and the winter but try not to use it. We are afraid of getting pulled over. We drive it just locally where there are hardly any people so it's not really a risk at all. Days pubic transport is available, it's pricey.

[ChessieMom]

That’s a TLDR if I ever saw one.

[WellShoneMoon]

Originally Posted by ChessieMom

That’s a TLDR if I ever saw one.

I found it interesting and I appreciated the detail.

[msRB311]

Originally Posted by ChessieMom

That’s a TLDR if I ever saw one.

The person who wrote it suffers from mental illness but it sounds like you didn’t read any of it.