How much money does it cost just to survive?

Food:

Oatmeal is $2.00 for something like 2500 calories.

Mac n Cheese here is $.82 for over 750 calories.

Chili is often around $.50 for 500 calories.

Cereal is cheap.

Eggs are cheap.

Oil is cheap.

Peanut butter is cheap.

Milk is what kills me, and vegetables.

Fruit is okay.

I'm not saying I plan on living like this forever. I understand insurance, families, etc cost money. I'm just saying if I wanted to live very cheaply, this is how much it would cost. I don't plan on ever getting married or having kids though, so that alone eliminates a huge expense.

I get a little tired of hearing people bitch about money when they're spending 10-30 dollars a day on food and driving literally everywhere they go. Cut your food and gas expenses in half and you can save thousands each year. BTW, I'm not saying any of you are like this; just saying I know a lot of people who are.

I make 45K for a single household, here are my fixed expenses (single household in NYC):

Gas/car insurance N/A

Monthly transportation costs @ $81

Monthly rent @ $1150

Power @ ~$55

Cellular $50

Cable/internet $50

Food (varies considerably) but $200 is probably the minimum

joe mcblow wrote:

actually i hardly eat out at all. i like to cook. but i'm never satisfied with mac n cheese or heating up a pizza. now that i think about it, though, i actually spend about 250-300/month on food. i think of things in terms of pay periods, which for me are two weeks, and so i think i mistakenly doubled my total the first time.

I shop at Target. I found their groceries are the cheapest if you buy the Archer Farms/Market pantry brands. I buy mostly rice, frozen veggies, bags of chicken cutlets, EZ Mac, granola bars, peanut butter jelly, eggs, etc. I dont buy sodas, alcohol, expensive steaks. When you are on a budget, you watch what you buy. I never not eat because of money, I just dont eat fancy.

I run about 70mpw, so I do eat my fair share of food.

here's how it's done kids.

i live with two roommates and i just moved into this place last month so with buying new stuff after moving i've had to spend some extra money these first two months just to get set up here. but with my rent and stuff here i should be spending about $850 a month.

Rent: 367

Bills: ~40 (water is paid for, just have to pay power and cable/internet. just have limited cable which is definitely the way to go cuz its like under 20 a month whereas just basic cable is over twice as much. and internet is probably around 40/month total)

Cell phone: 10 (got a cheap prepaid phone don't use much to keep it real cheap)

Food: ~250 (goal was to spend 300 but it looks like it'll be more like 250 a month, and that is with buying only real healthy/more expensive food and not just eating cheap crap)

Spending: keep spending to 133 or under (don't go out to eat much and don't buy anything unless i really really want it or need it, which means there really isn't much to buy)

Total: okay that actually only adds up to ~800 cuz food will probably only cost me about 250.

800 x 12 = 9600/year. got rid of my car a couple months ago and don't have health insurance right now cuz whenever i've had it i spend like $1500+ a year on it and use it to go to the doctors like maybe once a year if i get sick.

so if you add in travel like once a year to visit home and extra for xmas presents and maybe like one or two big purchases of something i really want i'd spend $11000 at most.

i can see people going out to eat a bit more or having a more expensive cell phone plan and a couple little things to add extra money on. but if rent is under $500 for you i think spending under 15 grand is super easy, i'd have to buy tons of crap to spend anywhere near 15 grand a year.

wow..what do you eat? wrote:

What do you guys eat? I eat out once a month, that is it and my wife and I spend about $700 a month on food. We shop at Trader Joe's or Publix, nothing too fancy. We buy a lot of fruits and veggies, everything is made from scratch (even our cookies and baked goods). How do you do it?

Breakfast: cereal with or without banana, or eggs/whole wheat toast(maybe 2 days/week), oatmeal, sometimes english muffins or just toast.

Lunch: ham/turkey sandwich on whole wheat roll, apple, piece of cake I made, or leftovers. Crackers and cheese.

Dinner: Boneless chicken, porkchop, or hamburg, oven dishes, lots of fresh veggies, brown rice, potatoes, stuffed shells, whole roasted chicken, pasta/sauce with or without meat. I now stay away from fish because it is $5+/pound. I get meats for 1.49-1.99/lb.usually but can be lower when on sale.

I do buy juices, and sometimes sport drinks when on sale.

The key for me is to stay away from processed foods and JUNK FOODS although I do buy pretzels every now and then.

Again, this feeds me and my GF who stays with me 10-15 days/month and sometimes others who visit.

I go thru my store flyer every week so I know what I will buy before going into store. Except for rare occasions, I don't use any coupons.

Hope this helps you. For $700/month, I could feed an army.

Nobody on this site spends any money on clothes. Or birthday/wedding/Christmas gifts.

To all of you who say life is more expensive with your lady... you SUCK. You are chauvanist assholes. As if this wasn't already flamingly obvious. Or else the girls you with are materialist, superficial jerks too, in which both halves of the couple suck.

I am one of the cheapest, thriftiest, penny pinching-est people I know, guy or girl.

Not all girls are spendthrifts. Thanks for generalizing as always, dicks.

For the record:

Rent $700 (live in the ghetto of a VERY expensive area, 2 BR with roommate)

Utilities $0 (included in rent)

Car $0 (cheap car I already own)

Car Insurance $100

Food/household items $150 (could economize a little more)

Health Insurance $0 (work covers)

Clothes $100 (on average...talking a pair of running shoes most months)

Gas $80 (two fill-ups a month at most)

thx

You'll have to excuse when I say, "Shut up you dumb bitch." It appears you're completely oblivious to the fact that most women aren't as thrifty as their male counter parts. We all know not ALL women are like this, but out of all the relationships I know a fair deal about, I cannot think of a single one where the woman is more conservative with money than the man. There are a few that are equal, but the vast, vast, VAST majority involve women who spend money faster than they or their husbands can make it. What's worse, women often times think they're entitled to spend not only their own money, but 50% or more of their husband's as well. That is not right.

Again, I emphasize that not all women are like this, but many are. When you shoot off your ignorant mouth like you did, you're just asking for a beating.

I graduated from college three + years ago.

I haven't made more than 12,000 a year since.

They've been the best three years of my life.

I haven't wanted for anything.

I've always had plenty left over for travel and recreation.

I'm sure I could get by on about 8,000 if I had to.

No, I don't have a wife or kids and probably won't ever.

It can be done, you just have realize what you are giving up but also what you are gaining.

Life is cheap when you are a loser.

Manswer wrote:

You'll have to excuse when I say, "Shut up you dumb bitch." What's worse, women often times think they're entitled to spend not only their own money, but 50% or more of their husband's as well.

I call bullshit on that. By the way that statement right there makes you like a "dumb bitch."

Pope T-Bag II wrote:

I graduated from college three + years ago.

I haven't made more than 12,000 a year since.

They've been the best three years of my life.

I haven't wanted for anything.

I've always had plenty left over for travel and recreation.

I'm sure I could get by on about 8,000 if I had to.

No, I don't have a wife or kids and probably won't ever.

It can be done, you just have realize what you are giving up but also what you are gaining.

That sounds like what's going to happen with me. You work in retail? I'm planning on working abroad pretty soon. If I'm going to be poor in my twenties, I might as well try cool things. Maybe I'll write a novel or try acting.

I've been living off 21k a year for a while. Works out to about $1900 a month.

$445 rent

$110 cable/internet

$55 cell phone

$85 student loans

$120-150 for food, including going out to lunch alot

$45 electricity

$60 gas (obviously more if I go on a trip or something but I only drive about 100 miles a week.)

Those are all the essentials. I was lucky enough to get alot of scholarships/financial aid for school. Also, I've been really lucky with my car.

That gives me close to $1000 a month of extra money. It was slightly less at first while I paid off my car, but now thats done. Some of that goes towards clothes, but I really don't spend a ton on that. Like many people here I have a million race tshirts that are my casual wear. I have enough work clothes and have two nice suits. I basically only replace socks and underwear as they wear out and occaisionally buy new work clothes. My girlfriend lives about 6 hours away, I usually visit her once a month, so thats a chunk of money for gas. I also have flowers delivered to her about once a month or so. I also go out with buddies from work about once a week.

The rest of that money goes mostly to savings since I already have an lcd tv and pretty much ever other comfort item I want. I do understand that the cost of living is very low where I live and that its easy to have 50k not be enough, I am originally from a medium sized city, so I know how it is. The point is that it is possible to live comfortably off of little money if you have little to no debt and live in the right place.

SOunds to me like you and your friends are just p*ssies. Here is a newsflash - you get to pick your wife. You also got to decide if you want to get married. If being married is such a burden don't do it.

If you did get married, that was your choice so don't go around blaming your wife for your problems. Man up and do something about it: take responsibility for your own life. Don't hide behind your wife's skirt every time a bill shows up.

Ask Brian Pope. He seems to have this topic figured out in detail.

Rent: 645

Ele: 85

Water: 15

Cell: 140

Internet: 30

Car: 283

Car Insurance: 65

Student Loans: 111

Living Expenses(food, gas, recreation, travel, clothes, houshold items, and general expenses that pop up unexpectedly): 600

Totals just under 2000/mo. My little sister is on my cell plan w/o her that cost would be around $50. My income varies throughout the year but when I make more I dont necissarily spend more. Everything extra goes to debt or savings. I am single and could save some money if I had roommates but, roommates suck. I like being able to escape other people by going home.

666 wrote:

Life is cheap when you are a loser.

Life isn't worth bothering when you have such narrow concepts of success.

I've bounced around, worked abroad, worked coffee shops, smoothie shops, banks, ran better and better PRs, coached, and experienced quite a bit for being in my mid-20s. Maybe I'll get around to "growing up" some day. But for now I haven't found anything worth "moving on" to or making money for.

you sound way too defensive. why do you care what they think? i spend less than you, live in a worse area and have no car. it's nothing to brag about, it's just how it is.

my regular expenses are approximately as follows:

rent: $400/mo

utilities: averages to $60/mo

food: $90/mo

transportation: $50/mo (generally, i only spend $25/month on this but i usually take one or two plane trips a year which ups the average)

entertainment: $50/mo

i work at a bar and get in to see all the bands there for free. i also get free drinks there because all i drink is the well vodka. sometimes i go to a show at another venue and then i buy drinks there. i utilize the library extensively.

i ride the greyhound bus when i need to go home to see my family and do that about once a month. i ride my bike everywhere else i need to go.

when you're young, you don't have to spend money to live a good life. once you have a kid, that's another story, but i definitely do not see marriage as the precursor to increased expenses.

i probably spend about $250 a year on gifts and less than $100 on clothes.

oh i forgot my cell phone and health insurance bill (though i don't consider either of those true necessities):.. adds another $90/month.

i steal my neighbor's wireless so no need to pay for internet. the library has free wireless, anyway, though, so that works too.