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How do you survive on minimum wage?

marsmellow said:
Yeah, you could probably cut the entertainment category, but not the car-related expenses. Because in many areas you are fucked without a car, because things are so spread out and there's no public transit. But even if you can cut both, you are still spending more than $900 a month.

I guess you would have to live without health insurance, and live with some roommates. Or get a second job.
Click to expand...

Two words. Public option
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Being vegetarian really helps with food costs. Veganism is even cheaper. Riding bikes instead of driving. Then the combination of these two tend to keep you healthier than most. So you can afford to not bother with healthcare.
 
my brother is on minimum wage and it sucks. He now grows a range of veggies in his garden, taken to do cash work on the side, hits every freebie site for coupons free food and drink etc, shops in charity shops, got shot of landline and has a mobile that we need phone him on, he also uses camp stoves in his house which has reduced the elecy bill as the gas canisters are cheaper. He got his hands on recharable torches that he uses, man he went really extreme on it. once he got a better job he stuck to a few of the cost saving ways and finds he is better off for knowing how to budget.
 
you can survive on minimum wage in Alaska.

450 a paycheck, 900 a month. you need a roomate.

every paycheck:
300 - rent
50 - food/toilet paper
35 - internet
20 - electricity
45 - "float" money. for emergencies. or in my case, I save it up to get some tramadol.

I get usually 25 hours of overtime per paycheck, so I get closer to 700 dollars. that means a used xbox game, a little bit in savings towards 'the future', and some more drugs.

I eat almost entirely from my job (fast food), so the 50 dollars usually goes to more drugs instead. My roomie steals toilet paper from different places, so that helps.

If I need more money, I can sell some drugs. I've never needed to go to the hospital yet, but if I did, I can get free medical care at the native hospital. Some of my teeth are starting to hurt often, but I think I can get them yanked for free at the hospital if I gotta.

Most of the people I work with are broke as hell and always hurting. But they smoke a lot of cigarettes and drink or smoke weed in excess, or eat out too often. Or they'll call out or be several hours late at least once a week. In almost all cases, it's their own fault they're poor.

I'm prolly gonna get a second job because I'm determined to buy a house and have some financial security. But I can eventually do this on just my one job now, it'll just take like 20 years.
 
Hey lazy, isn't if your a native or an Alaskan resident you get like a huge fucking check every year? Something about ya'l get a share of profit in the oil revenue up there?

as for the OP, Look into halfway houses. They are not always for people just getting out of prison. I lived in one for 8 month, and it only cost $260 a month for rent. I had to share a bedroom, but it was cool. I wouldn't recommend you keep anything to much of value there, just a place to crash. (yeah you get drug tested, mostly just for thc,coke,and amphetamines.)
 
Shared accomodations pretty much. I have before and it's not that bad, sucks sometimes but what're you gonna do. Public transportation if you're in a city helps, too.

Another great thing you can do for yourself is learn to save money when the going is good -- try to minimize your spending and stash away two or three hundred or whatever you can allow dollars a month so that when you become unemployed or go back to school or whatever, it's not so much of a big deal.
 
I don't understand how someone could make minimum wage. I sit on my ass and do nothing for 15bucks an hour. There are too many jobs out there to settle for $7.25/hour if you are out there on your own. I think they are mainly set up for high school/college students who don't have alot of bills.
 
I survived on unemployment and savings for 2 years. I simply cut back on all non-essentials.

In my state, auto insurance is NOT a requirement, so I dropped it, drove very carefully and took my chances. I shopped for groceries looking for things that could be stretched out into a few meals and I bought things on sale. I shopped for clothes at department stores instead of designer stores and I made them last longer. I spent next to nothing on "entertainment". I cut back to basic cable TV service and got rid of my land line phone.

If it had continued much longer, I would have considered taking in a room mate to offset my mortgage and utilities. When you find yourself in a desperate situation, you can come up with LOTS of expense savings measures. Most of us just don't want to give up the lifestyle we've become accustomed to.

I finally did secure myself a decent job again and I've started building my savings back up . But I would have taken 2 or 3 minimum wage jobs if my resources got close to running out altogether.

If you're living on minimum wage and you're dissatisfied, give some good hard thought to what you can do to improve your situation. If you come up with nothing, then you're either not thinking hard enough or else you don't really want to do those things it takes to change your situation. Nothing is going to be handed to you. You have to put in time, effort, work and maybe sacrifice some pride and learn some humility.

Life's not all about how much money you make, buy we all have our levels of comfort and lifestyle we can be content with. If you're not earning enough for that, then you've got to figure out a way to earn more or else simply be grateful for what you've got.
 
No car, no kids, get a roommate, student health insurance or none at all. . .

God help you if these conditions won't work. :)
 
Minimum wage sucks.

Here in Australia, the Government reckons that the minimum amount one person can live on per week is $600 (US $510) per week.

It's hilarious that the Government then turns around and says "full-time, non working students you can get a Government payment! Here. Have $440 (US $375) per FORTNIGHT to survive on!"

It f**king sucks.

I get that $440 per fortnight. :(

My rent is $240 per fortnight, I live in a crappy 3brm unit in the outskirts of town, I share with 4 other people and we all share the one bathroom. I eat rice and gravy and frozen veges most nights. I have to save $35 each fortnight for my monthly phone & internet. No health insurance, no insurance of any kind. I got a payment today and after paying rent, food, internet & phone, I have $7 left for the next two weeks.. That's it.. Which I just spent on codeine so I can sleep tonight.. So it doesn't leave much for anything else but I guess I've kept up my drug habit from earning $70,000 a year, to $11,000 a year, so I must be doing something right.

It's super tough, and with the state of the economy and so many people losing their jobs and stuff, it's probably going to get tougher. You CAN do it, it'll teach you a few good life lessons, and you'll appreciate what you do get much more. Well, that's my experience anyway.. :)

<3
 
^^
People in Australia on unemployment/youth allowance or minimum wage are way, way better off than people in America. It doesn't matter that you don't have health insurance, because we have a decent, working public health care system. If you get sick, you will be able to find a doctor that bulk bills (eventually) and if you get really sick, you can get a bed in a public hospital. Minimum wage here is also relatively higher than the US, meaning that people here who work in a restaurant or whatever don't have to rely on tips in order to get by.
 
dont buy any material items just the basics you need to survive:

food, bills, etc
 
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