If You Had To Live on $2000 USD Per Month, How Would You Do It?
Earlier today I said health insurance would blow this up for me but will give it a shot with a little bit of "cheating."
1. Housing cost
We will be mortgage free in Sept so I will assume no rent or mortgage. Property tax would amortize out at $200/mo. Home owners insurance would be $75/mo.
2. Utilities
We have solar so I would disconnect from the grid. I would get a cell plan from Consumer Cellular which starts at $20/mo, assume though it costs $30. Cancel Directv. Here's comes some cheating, barter with my neighbor to trade work for access to their wifi to stream on my tablet, half a day per month should do it. Our water is a well. We'd have to rely on firewood and electric heaters (solar) to stay warm in the winter. I'd be able to scrounge enough wood close to home for quite a few years.
3. Getting around
Get rid of the cars. Our ATV needs 5 gallons of gas every three months or so spread that out to $6/mo and I would have a bicycle.
4. Food
I would make sure we get enough protein. $20/day would cover a robust dinner of red meat or fish plus a couple of snacks (quest bar/yogurt) and coffee which works out to $600/mo. I would barter work for lunch. There's enough close by that I'd be able to do this every day. I already skip breakfast so that would still be easy. Food for our dogs would be $200/mo.
5. Can we afford health insurance?
We have what amounts to catastrophic coverage that costs $545/mo. Adding up where we are before considering health insurance, we're at $1111. Health insurance then takes us up to $1656.
6. Household items
Various soaps, detergents, paper products average of $30/mo
7. Clothing budget
Set aside $50/mo but probably save up for more expensive items that would last longer like decent shoes.
8. Emergencies
At this point we're at $1746. Things like vet bills, fixing things that we can't barter for can take up the remaining $254, or maybe even the occasional frivolous $10-$20 purchase. In months with no emergencies we could buy more food to get ahead in subsequent months.
9. If I really wanted to cheat
I could figure out how to buy things directly with Bitcoin...no dollars involved.
10. Forgetting anything?
I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff. One thing I didn't include is exercise. I work out for free at our firehouse and hiking right out my front door is free of course.
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