Here in Portugal, our minimum wage is 485 euros a month (637,29$ in US, 402,56£ in UK) and it’s very difficult to live, or even survive, on that kind of amount recieved.

Just for you to have an idea, an apartment rounds no less than about 300 euros. Below that threshold it’s possible, but very very rare. After that, you have costs with food – about 75-125 euros a month, with low brands. That makes 425 euros. But… we have some other things to pay also, like gas (20 euros or so), water (10-15 euros normally), electrity (40 euros, 60 euros, on that threshold)… and all that means a 70 euro minimum cost on that kind of stuff. Total? 495 euros. More 10 than minimum.

And I’m not counting taxes (11-12%, about 437 euros remain), other stuff like paying the administration of the building, like 20 euros, clothing (never less than 20 euros each time we go), mobile phones (normally 12.5 euros a month), internet (minimum 12,89 € monthly…), and so on, and so on.

You don’t live here with the minimum wage, you survive and you survive badly. Plus improving your income could bring disadvantages, because taxes by the yearly income rise quickly… I’m thinking of, when I turn 18, get rid of this country, maybe go to UK or US, at least you have there means to live more “breathly”…

I agree with you to some extent. Based off your numbers I’m assuming you live a fairly cheap area of the country? The post was intended to tackle the question without going too extreme and to make it doable to anyone really focusing on the baseline of minimum wage.

Although I realize you could go live in the middle of nowhere (where’s $1000 for land?) and build a house out of scrap, you could also live in a shelter and not have any expenses if you really wanted to be extreme.

When I wrote this post I was living in Hawaii, where rent for $200 would be a plot on a driveway to pitch a tent, likewise all the food costs were about three times what you quoted.

Even so, I think your numbers are right for most rural areas of the US and pretty much scrape the bottom of possibilities. I’m sure you’d be able to relate better to Jacob’s expenses over at http://www.earlyretirementextreme.com

Thanks for adding your thoughts to the discussion.

Ryan

$400-$500 a month is a high estimate for rent. You can pay low as $200 a month w/ utils without too much strain with a roommate in an old appartment. Also, the author failed to mention the possibility of buying a cheap piece of land for $1000- $2000 and building a cheap self sustainable cabin for $3000 and not having any rent if one had everything paid for up front.

A car is not needed, even if you live 15 miles away from your job, only a nice bike is needed. Vehicles are inneficient and expensive, and can be unpredictable. You will also keep yourself healthy with a bike. Bike repairs and tires average me $60 per year.

As far as other groceries are concerned, you can get a bottle of shampoo ($1) to last for 3 months, store brand bars of soap ($2) to last for 2 months, toothpaste ($3) for a month, laundry detergent ($6) for 3 months, Deodorant ($2) 2 months. That would make grocery bills more like $140 per month= $1680 per year.

Health insurance ranges from $600- $1000 per year on average for basic – decent coverage.

So lets say you find a cheap place to rent with a roommate= $200 month= $2400 per year
Then you spend 140 a month on groceries and 60 a year on bike= $1740 per year
Then you have some decent health insurance = $1000 per year

The total of this is $5140
Which could be much much lower if one owned land and lived in a yurt or a small cabin.

Let me bring some light into this discussion. I am a married male, 23 years of age. I have a 1 year old daughter and my wife is pregnant. I work for 9.00 per hour. With my wages, we count on one check for Rent and gas, and my other check for Utilities, food, and extras(wants). My wife does not work, she is a stay at home mom/student. We do have some debt, we slowly pay it down, but we manage in these hard times in the United States. If anyone has any questions about making with kids and things of the like, feel free to ask.

I graduated with a Bachelor’s degree a couple years ago and it seemed people were literally afraid to hire. I certainly didn’t hear back from many folks. After 18 months I was provided an opportunity through networking, nailed the interview (entry level but still nice to have!) and after 11 months was laid off for budgetary reasons.

I’m also terminally ill. My COBRA is just over 425 dollars, and a federal and private student loan (going to the most affordable school I could find) set me back 260 combined a month. What’s more, my disease is only in a very bad state, not “iron lung” status. It’s enough to negate receiving regular health insurance rates but not enough to get disability. When the COBRA expires I’m told I can be eligible for HIPPA that would be about twice that.

Since, where I live, the gas stations and McDonald’s haven’t responded to me during the course of two and a half years, I found myself in a predicament. I have an interview next week for a job that pays 8.42/hr. Just going in batches of 4 weeks, that’s 1347.20. My tax rate, young and single with no dependents on a standard deduction, is just shy of 20 percent when I made 10/hr. So if I halve that rate I take home 1200 in 4 weeks. I like to cook from home, and batch cook, so my dinners could be 7 dollars but freeze for half the week. Cereal’s relatively inexpensive, as are sandwiches. Say two boxes a week for 5 bucks and 9 dollars a week for sandwich meat and bread. 14+5+9=28 a week for food x 4 = 112. I go through 10/wk in gas, which thanks to shift bidding and living outside of the more expensive city means it’s my only option; fortunately I get better fuel economy and have lower emissions than anyone I know.

425+260+112+40

That leaves me 363 dollars. A quick look on my local Craigslist reveals one room available at 350 in a place that I called that is soon to be condemned and is offered for the next month only. -Quite a few- places offer split rent of a room. 3/4 of these are within a mile or so from a street that’s famous throughout the -entire- county for being where most of our murders and drug trafficking take place. To be safe here, the cheapest place with basic utilities is going to be 450 shared with someone else.

No emergencies, no toiletries — and I never have been a person to have crap like personal music players or HBO; bare bones — and I’m one hundred dollars in the hole, spending more than I make, despite earning more than minimum wage.

BUT if I didn’t have the loans or the health insurance it does seem like it could be a doable squeeze. =)