Living On An Income Under The Poverty Line
8 February 2007There’s a good article on MSN written by a woman who, at 48, has decided to go back to college. The result is a huge blow to her income: down to $12,000 a year. This is the point where a lot of people start telling you that it’s impossible to live on that little money. I think it depends on where you live, having lived on less myself in college – but it’s definitely a highly uncomfortable lifestyle. How does she make it work?
Food banks, cheap shopping, and spending a lot of time paying attention to the budget. Her tips to find extremely cheap stuff that you’d normally pay more for:
“The obvious answers are sites like Craigslist.org and thrift shops, especially ones like Value Village that offer coupons and half-off sales. My 99-cent clock-radio wakes me up every morning just as efficiently as a high-tech alarm from The Sharper Image. Rummage sales are swell, too; my church has an annual sale called “Superfluity” (I love that name) at which I bought my desk for $4 and a small chest of drawers for $1. I also buy Christmas and birthday gifts at Superfluity and an annual “500-family” rummage sale. No one has to know that that hardback bestseller under the tree cost you only 50 cents.”
I’d add that while you can live on Ramen noodles and those $1.00 microwave pizzas, I got a lot of mileage out of combining cheap ingredients myself – if you’re willing to eat the same kind of sandwich for lunch and dinner six days in a row, you’re not going to have to spend too much at the grocery store. College students also have it easier because you can find a lot of events with free food, but she takes advantage of food banks, which are a more viable option for adults.
I’ve said before that I think improving your income is the only long term solution to living under this kind of budget, but it is possible. One thing just as important to take away from her article as HOW she lives on that budget is WHY: she’s getting a degree, which can help her come back into the workforce with better pay. It’s not a guarantee, but it’s an effort at self-improvement, and that’s the only way you’re going to advance your living standard. I’m not sure it’s the ideal plan – she’s taking off work entirely to live on alimony payments, and I think going to school at night is a viable option, and probably a better one, for an adult looking to get a degree. But a lot of people end up deciding to do nothing at all – and the harsh reality is that no one is going to pull you out of poverty but yourself. There’s a good discussion going about the article in MSN’s comments, with some obvious points about it (such as that it’s a lot harder in California, that health problems could destroy your careful budget, etc.) – but there’s also some good advice by people who are trying to live on similar budgets. One of the posters is attempting to live on a similar budget on a much bigger salary – great for your savings if you can do it, but I don’t know that I’d have the discipline to do so myself. There’s also a very good discussion at another board about the article by a bunch of people describing how they scraped by on small budgets – but it’s not exactly a family-friendly message board (think South Park), so if you’ve got any qualms on that front I’d stay away. If not, you can check it out here.
Discuss this on the Free the Drones Forums.
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