amitymamaThe Attachment Parenting Community

TiredMama · 03-20-2008, 02:12 AM

We could do it quite easily, but I'm glad that our current wages allow us to put some money in the bank and have nice little extras.

Our current expenses:

We rent a 2 br apt for $829 heat and gas/garbage are included
car payment for our Passat $259
we own my Corolla
Electric $30
Cable/Internet $50
Credit Card/Misc Bills $250
Car Ins (full coverage 2 cars) and renters ins $148
Cell Phones $60
Gas Corolla 9 gal/mo (This is slightly more than I use) $30
Gas Passat 20 gal/mo (We need to use premium because of the turbo) $65
Storage Locker $37
Groceries $200

Which is a total of $1958
If we needed to we could cut our grocery budget a bit and get it down closer to $150 for the month, not have a storage locker which would save $37 cut out the cable/internet which would save $50 our credit card/misc bills aren't necessities and are mostly eating out that we pay off each month we could cut this out entirely saving another $250. We could cut one of the cell phones which would save $15.

If we spent less realistically we could live on $402 less than our bills right now meaning that we could probably get by on $1556 a month. All that said. We spend a lot more on frivolous things. I currently spend an absurd amount at the fabric store on different things sometimes things that I want to make things out of and others that I want to play with...none of this is necessary. I also spend a $300 or so a month on clothing, but realistically I could cut this out entirely, and I am seriously thinking about doing it and making our clothes because I am generally happier with that than I am with RTW anyway. We also spend a bunch on electronics and entertainment every month that we don't need to.

While we could survive on minimum wage I would hate it. Right now we are saving to buy a house, and while we could be saving more we are doing ok and should have a good down payment soon enough. We probably would not have bought a Passat if we were living on minimum wage either.

This was a very interesting question. Now that I am thinking about what I spend I think I will cut some out so that I can save more.

heythereheather · 03-20-2008, 02:19 AM

That's actually more than my DH currently makes, with CA minimum wage. So yes.

HOWEVER--that's because our housing, utilities, and insurance are paid, too. So he gets benefits that push up the total package. Without that, we could probably do it (around $2500 a month) but it would be tight if we didn't move, since housing costs so much. I'd have to eat as cheaply as possible, and that would be hard for me--no more organic, for sure.

Also, I'd have to assume that we would still get WIC (that is gov't assistance), because otherwise I couldn't afford the formula.

And the kids would have to go to public school...

3boysnagrl · 03-20-2008, 03:01 AM

ok, I just did it for HI. If dh and I were to both work 40 hrs a week at $7.25/hr, we would make $2513 a month.

Our rent is higher than that.

So absolutely not, we couldn't live on that here.

This has me thinking...
housing is paid for (militry housing) - could we live off of $2513/month excluding housing. This could be a good exercise to save and pay down debts. hmmm.

choleblack · 03-20-2008, 03:15 AM

Heather, that's kind of what started my thinking about it. I was thinking about the economy & how there might be a lot of families that need to make the adjustment to living on min. wage if the economy really crashes. So I thought that asking might encourage others to think about how little they could live off and make changes to be prepared in case worse comes to worse, YK.

Eh, maybe I need to get some new music for the car or something. I only start thinking about this stuff on the drive with DD to her homeschool group each week.

Chole

Chickapea · 03-20-2008, 08:45 AM

Quote:

Or use the current Fed. Min Wage of $5.85 per hour which turns out to be $1872 per month based on the above criteria.

Absolutely. We make it on way less than that now. We don't have credit cards, though.

AngelaJ · 03-20-2008, 09:00 AM

We could make it on that. It would be very tight, and we would have to be extra lean on driving and eating, but it could be done. Hopefully, only temporarily, though.

eastonbennett · 03-20-2008, 09:11 AM

Umm I'm not really sure what we could cover, not too much. Our mortgage is $1300, Our cars are $880. Not to mention our astronuomical grocery bill. We spend a lot of money each month on gas for our cars as well. So we could keep our house, but we would lose our cars and would have no way to get to work.

tydytykesmama · 03-20-2008, 10:12 AM

We could pay our mortgage, the one car payment we have, basic utlities and food. Anything else would not happen. It would not be fun, but we would survive.

tisme · 03-20-2008, 10:31 AM

I voted housing, utilities/food, extras. I didnt vote car because I dont drive and I didnt vote cc because I have 2 cc's but there is no balance on either of them. I only use them in emergency or for reservations - that I pay in cash for immediately.

I'm in Toronto and minimum wage is $8. I'm a single mom making minimum wage for most my hours (when managing I make a bit more), but I work aprox 60h/w - so the equivilant of 1.5 people in this question. I make it without child support.

maryalene · 03-20-2008, 10:43 AM

Our minimum wage is higher in MI and doing the math, I think we could cover just about all our expenses (assuming our gas usage dropped dramatically with jobs closer to home) if there were no childcare and no taxes. We'd be a little short for tuition though.

texasmama · 03-20-2008, 10:51 AM

*ponders free child care for 8 kids...*

Nope. Not even close, wouldn't cover the house and even if it did there's a little problem of feeding 10 too.

However, back in the old days when we had just one kid, we actually did live off of one minimum wage income before dh got a job with his degree. We rented a tiny house for $200/month and lived off of coupon groceries. We had one vehicle (honda accord) that was a graduation gift to me from my grandparents and it kept us from qualifying for any gov help. We had no other fluffs (even computers were not yet a household thing).

hana · 03-20-2008, 11:05 AM

Yes, we could do it. BUT we could only do it because of good fortune and careful choices in the past (car paid off, etc.) and we'd have to use the "budget payment" plan for heat.

Mary, Mary · 03-20-2008, 11:12 AM

we could afford our rent and the car payment, car insurance and gas for the car (DH's work pays for his gas). But nothing else and heaven forbid the car need a repair or maintenance. But I guess it wouldn't really matter, since we'd starve/freeze/overheat and die before the car would need to be fixed.

herc · 03-20-2008, 11:15 AM

ok i need to spin off i guess, but HOW are your elec bills so ****ed low? Several of you have said less than 100. We are on budget billing and pay 150 for gas and 190 for electric. Water /refuse is 50-60. Just a regular phone line w no internet or anything would be around 30 a month.

I do think that for us the issue is mute. DH is a teacher in a state where there are teacher shortages, and they are offering scholarships for people to go back and get a masters degree in education. He is tenured, and it is very very difficult to fire a tenured teacher.

volvomom · 03-20-2008, 11:16 AM

My youngest is disabled and we cannot be without health insurance. Our monthly healthcare expenses are more than $1K. Otherwise we have no debt at all save our mortgage which is very low since we bought a house well below our means back in 2000.