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Not necessarily as I stated in one of my posts my house cost me 36K in a depressed area, the insurance insists on insuring it for what they say is the replacement cost of $450K. It makes me very angry and costs a lot which on SS only is hard to come by, and I know if something happened to the house I would not see all or even most of that $450K.
36K for a house with a replacement cost of $450K? You a must be in a manic depressed area.
I have no problem (so far) living on Soc. Sec., mainly because I bought my house before retiring.
$1500 heating (this is Indiana. Right now it's 5-deg. F outside my kitchen window.)
$1200 taxes
$ 500 electricity
$ 360 water
$ 360 sewer, garbage
$ 240 cell phone and Internet hotspot
No car. I take the bus to the shopping district once a week. Say $200 for all transportation a year.
My insulin and supplies for diabetes are $260 a year.
I go to the county health clinic for checkups, which are mainly paid by Medicare. So my health care costs under $100 a year.
This leaves $8000 less $4820 equals $3180 for food, clothing, and other expenses. Say $250 a month. I don't spend that much. I don't go to restaurants, unless a $1 McChicken counts.
I have lived out of a van. I have also lived in a shack (which I built myself) out in the country. I much prefer having a house (a BIG house) with furniture. Strangely, though, the social life is about the same; you don't see much of your neighbors in this town and some of them you don't want to see. However, the neighborhood is safe.
I don't get an EBT card because I was foolish enough to save money when I was working and therefore fail the means test. I remember going to a free-food pantry in 1980's California and coming back with two stalks of celery, a jar of plain yogurt, and several time-expired cans of tuna, which certainly tasted old when served.
So if you can buy a house, you can live on Soc. Sec. here. There are several habitable ones for $30K in this town. There's a cute cross-gable cottage for $12K in Terre Haute. Why people rent, I don't know.
Wow, $1,500 a year for heat? I am even farther north than you and my heating bill is half that. You need some serious insulation added and perhaps some new windows.
i am a gym rat plus i run 4-5 miles every other day . been that way for years .
however genetics loads the gun and lifestyle pulls the trigger .. as my doctor said , you are prediabetic and one day that trigger will pull all by itself and you will be a type 2 diabetic . he was so right , diet and exercise delayed it but finally 3 months ago i had to go on 1 milligram of glimpride after all these years of stalling it .
you can only stall things that are genetic so long before they appear outside your control. maybe i could have pushed it out a bit longer with one of these "fad " diets or crazy ways of mixing fasting and eating a certain very regimented way , but nothing i could live with longer term so it is what it is .
My blood sugar levels were pre-diabetic as I had a severe sweet tooth. I really started watching my sugar and carb intake along with exercise, I was able to drop it to normal levels. Also I now off statins. Low carb diet works wonders.
I do know genetics are hard to fight and I am sure you tried everything you could to avoid being diabetic. Not the worst thing and can be controlled with medication.
My blood sugar levels were pre-diabetic as I had a severe sweet tooth. I really started watching my sugar and carb intake along with exercise, I was able to drop it to normal levels. Also I now off statins. Low carb diet works wonders.
I have been pretty strict for years on my diet but in the end genetics win .. my day starts at 7am at the gym daily and been that way for 15 years now .. I run 4-5 miles every other day .. then I do any where from 1 to 4 hours of drumming daily . By 8 pm I am a sleep ..
I have a 50th anniversary tour coming up with a famous group so I am putting tons of time in to my drumming . It is at the point of being an obsession. Drumming is extremely physical so I am all exercised out ...
So eventually genetics wins in the end and last year I was put on a statin and 3 months ago my a1c hit 7 so I am on a very light dose of glimpride ...... it is what it is and there is nothing left that I am either giving up or doing more of..
There are days my arms are so tired I just hold the tooth brush and. Move my head. Haha.
Last edited by mathjak107; 01-22-2019 at 04:49 PM..
Wow, $1,500 a year for heat? I am even farther north than you and my heating bill is half that. You need some serious insulation added and perhaps some new windows.
I'd be thrilled to death with spending only $1500/yr for heat. Fuel here is oil (typical for this part of the country.) Just pulled up my Excel records for the past eight years and my heating oil totals for the full calendar years were:
House had all new Andersen windows, new insulation, all new attic insulation, new burner/boiler, no skylights or other big expanses of glass, all windows have coverings. Insulation isn't the problem, fuel prices are. 2016 was a year of unusually low oil prices, I think I was paying only about $2.20/gal that winter.
Current c.o.d. pricing (which is the least expensive way) right now is between $2.50 and $2.60/gal for a typical residential delivery of 150-200 gallons. Most home tanks hold 275 gals; some hold 500 gals but those are always underground which are fast disappearing.
I'd be thrilled to death with spending only $1500/yr for heat. Fuel here is oil (typical for this part of the country.) Just pulled up my Excel records for the past eight years and my heating oil totals for the full calendar years were:
House had all new Andersen windows, new insulation, all new attic insulation, new burner/boiler, no skylights or other big expanses of glass, all windows have coverings. Insulation isn't the problem, fuel prices are. 2016 was a year of unusually low oil prices, I think I was paying only about $2.20/gal that winter.
Current c.o.d. pricing (which is the least expensive way) right now is between $2.50 and $2.60/gal for a typical residential delivery of 150-200 gallons. Most home tanks hold 275 gals; some hold 500 gals but those are always underground which are fast disappearing.
My heating source is natural gas which is the cheapest. My house has 6 inch walls, newer windows and is very well insulated. House is 2000 square feet so not huge by any means. I have the programmable thermostat which also helps.
This killed a deal on a house I was seriously considering. House was under $100K, but insurance was stating cost to rebuild would be $350K! WTF!
I bought a downtown commercial building in 2016 for $165k [two storefronts, some office space and eleven residential tenants] the insurance company says the replacement cost is close to $400k.
Wow, $1,500 a year for heat? I am even farther north than you and my heating bill is half that. You need some serious insulation added and perhaps some new windows.
I live in Maine, on the forums I routinely see posts from people in Texas and Georgia who say their heating costs are 3X to 4X what it costs me to heat our house.
I live in Maine, on the forums I routinely see posts from people in Texas and Georgia who say their heating costs are 3X to 4X what it costs me to heat our house.
You heat with wood correct?
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