Do you live / could you live on $14,000 a year? - Page 3

[lolar2]

Originally Posted by Drummer's Wife

I can't imagine, to be honest. Even if I had section 8 and food stamps. Okay, maybe if I had no housing costs, no food to buy, medicaid for insurance, and didn't have to pay for a car or gas. Maybe, but it would be hard. We have 6 people, though, and I'm pretty sure a family of 2 making 14K would be right below the poverty line.

But if you had Medicaid for insurance, and food stamps, that wouldn't really be living on 14K. That would be living on 14K, plus whatever value you assign to the Medicaid and food stamps. So if that's $200 a month of Medicaid for 6 people, for example, and another $200 a month in food stamps, that $14,000 would really be $18,800. I am all in favor of Medicaid and food stamps, but I thought the OP was talking about ALL expenses coming out of 14K, no matter what the source of the money or subsidy was.

[Drummer's Wife]

Originally Posted by lolar2

But if you had Medicaid for insurance, and food stamps, that wouldn't really be living on 14K. That would be living on 14K, plus whatever value you assign to the Medicaid and food stamps. So if that's $200 a month of Medicaid for 6 people, for example, and another $200 a month in food stamps, that $14,000 would really be $18,800. I am all in favor of Medicaid and food stamps, but I thought the OP was talking about ALL expenses coming out of 14K, no matter what the source of the money or subsidy was.

ah, I see. well then, no. I really can't imagine. wouldn't a family making that little qualify for assistance, then? But you are right, if you add in all that, maybe even including child care subsidy if needed, it's a lot more than $14K a year. Do people do this w/o any type of help, besides maybe living with family or friends?

eta: maybe I should read through each reply

[zinemama]

Originally Posted by Satori

umm no, look at who's answering, its mostly those who don't. I have my own place, I CHOOSE not to own a home at this point

The OP specifically asked about people getting by on 14K with a mortgage. Correct me if I'm mistaken, but I haven't seen anyone on this thread claim to be able to do that unaided.

[lolar2]

Originally Posted by Drummer's Wife

ah, I see. well then, no. I really can't imagine. wouldn't a family making that little qualify for assistance, then? But you are right, if you add in all that, maybe even including child care subsidy if needed, it's a lot more than $14K a year. Do people do this w/o any type of help, besides maybe living with family or friends?

eta: maybe I should read through each reply

Don't be embarrassed, I'm not 100% sure I understood the OP correctly. I could be wrong!

[josybear]

Originally Posted by zinemama

The OP specifically asked about people getting by on 14K with a mortgage. Correct me if I'm mistaken, but I haven't seen anyone on this thread claim to be able to do that unaided.

ex and i did this, from the time we got married until our son was 2. granted, our mortgage was for 30k so it cost practically nothing, but we got no assistance. (free medical doesn't count, we're canadian)

[dancebaraka]

My sense is that being debt free is the key here and waiting to get things until you can get them outright. Of course, things always come up and this simply is not possible for everyone.

DH had the great fortune to inherit some stocks. We sold those and strategically downsized, and this is the core reason we can live the way we do. I understand that most folks are not so fortunate.

However, my thinking is, what *can* you do to get closer to debt free living asap? Having had the experience of being dirt poor in the past and being relatively free right now, I just know that everything is set up easier for folks without tons of expenses. I would do almost anything in my power at this point to maintain my level of financial freedom.

Not everyone thinks this way, though, and that is ok. My sister's family for example inherited enough $ to pay off their house. A few years later, they have moved to a better neighborhood with better schools and traded in their low car payments for a new minivan payment. I went over there the other day, and they had a new flat screen tv! They are back in debt. They aren't struggling though, they work their behinds off and are basically married to a life of 40hr work weeks until they retire. They are doing great, though, and I don't share this to judge their choices at all. I am just saying that I value my financial freedom more than "moving up" in the world. If we came into some kind of windfall right now, I'd pay the rest of the student loan off, and save most of the rest, maybe blowing a bit of it on some amazing experience. I won't ever have a car payment again. I am cool to drive whatever car I won't need to have a payment on. I won't ever use a credit card again in my life except in the case of a major emergency. But we plan for emergency too.

I can totally see myself being a millionaire in this life.. seriously! But no one will likely ever know it when it happens, cuz I'll still be driving a middle class car and coupoing
The key is living debt free. Even if it takes 30 years to get there, you will grow wildly and exponentially wealthy thereafter.

[fruitfulmomma]

Okay... here's my numbers -

No mortgage or Rent

10% Tithe/Giving to Charities - $1400 (if based on the 14,000 figure)

$7,644 on food and toiletries - that is $3 per day per person in our 7 person family

$3,000 on utilities - Gas, Water, Electric, Sewer, Trash

$480 - High Speed Internet

$360 - Prepaid Cell Phones - 150 minutes per month each for dh and I

$2600 - Fuel - We live 20-25 miles from the two towns we go to and end up driving a lot.


That puts us at $15, 484 at a bare minimum with no room for home improvements, car upkeep, medical care, debt payoff, etc... Some things like fuel and groceries would certainly depend on how many people are in your family, how often you drive, etc... and the tithe would not be on everyone's list. (I didn't include taxes because we always get a full refund.) I'd say we're comfortable at around $18-$20,000 but to add a mortgage or rent to that we'd need at least $12,000 more.

[HeatherAtHome]

Oh, well if you're looking at it from the point of view of a mortgage.

Around here, we have some cheap houses in the country. (Ours is actually $68,000! It's really livable as is, but we want to do some work on it)

Ok, so hypothetical situation based on estimates and past experience.

Mortgage of $65,000 @ 15 years with 2.55% interest = $434. 5%=$512. Let's just say $500 Imagine if you went for 25 years! I did the math but can't remember, is it $291/mth?
If you owned your car, either a decent one that's paid off or a $500 clunker, you have no car payment.

Mortgage $500
Food $300
Gas $40
Car Insurance $35
Home insurance $45 (cheaper house=cheaper insurance)
Internet $35
Cable Let's go tv free to save money!
Phone $30
Utilities $75
Misc $100
Total of $1160
With $6 left over for a couple chocolate bars and a bag of chips.

14,000/12mths=1166/mth

So it would be very tight, and like I said, anything unexpected would go on credit cards. Possible, but not ideal.

I would want to buy clothes at thrift stores or get hand me downs from friends and family, not eat any meals out, always pack a lunch, patching things up instead of buying new... Yeah, it would be pretty tight.

[mamadelbosque]

We've been living off far less than that for the past couple years... but we live with my dad (so no mortgage, rent, etc), and more or less split food costs with him... DH worked ~5-6 months the last 2 years, but not at all this year so far - we're living off of his scholarship/financial aid money and money from family/friends for bday/xmas/etc...

ETA: we are on WIC & medicaid, but not currently on food stamps - our bank account fluctuates radically from 3-4k down to nearly nothing, which makes qualifying for them rather hard for us (gifts from family/friends/scholarships raise it up then we draw it down then it gets bumped back up, etc)

[~PurityLake~]

Originally Posted by Satori

Like I said earlier, many people often confuse WANTS and NEEDS, heaven knows I often did for years.

I agree.

I also think area is such a huge factor. For example, many people are posting $300 a month for food. That would never be possible here for a family of four. IMPOSSIBLE.

We spend about $500 a month on food = $6000/year
We pay $4620 a year in rent. (own our mobile home, pay lot rent)
Natural gas is $102 per month = $1224/year
Electric is about $55 a month = $660/year
Clothing ~ $50/year

Auto loan is $273 a month = $3276
Auto insurance is $800 every 6 months = $1600/year

Phone/internet is $40 a month = $480/year
Basic cable tv is $21 a month = $252/year
Cell phone is $5 a month = $60/year

So, with food, clothing and shelter being necessities, we spend $12554/year.

Some would say our vehicle/auto insurance is a necessity so including that, we spend $17,430/year.

We can afford the dental insurance through my husband's work, but cannot afford to use the medical insurance. We go to a clinic that charges a sliding fee scale for ourselves and our daughters are on the Denali Kid Care.

[LeighB]

Originally Posted by Drummer's Wife

ah, I see. well then, no. I really can't imagine. wouldn't a family making that little qualify for assistance, then? But you are right, if you add in all that, maybe even including child care subsidy if needed, it's a lot more than $14K a year. Do people do this w/o any type of help, besides maybe living with family or friends?

eta: maybe I should read through each reply

Currently we live with out any help. Hopefully by the end of Sept we will have some food assistance and Medicaid for Dd. Applying for aid and going to the appointments and recertifications, etc is actually a lot more difficult than I imagined. The paperwork for food stamps alone took me 1/2 hour. I know in some areas the lines for services can br hours long so some familes can't make it work.
Sorry, lol, I guess that was ot from the rest of the thread!

[honey-lilac]

We live off of about 14.5 K a year in a mid to low COL. We do pay property taxes (about 1000 a year) but have no mortgage. We also have no other debt. PM me if you want to know specifics of our budget.

ETA: Unfortunately in this state Medicaid doesn't cover us so I'm uninsured. DH and the kids are, though. We get no other state benefits.

[yeahwhat]

I have in the past, when it was just dh, me and ds, who was a baby at the time.

We had minimal expenses. Bus passes were about $100/month. Rent was $440. Electricity was $30. Phone $30. Internet was under $20. We spent $60/week on food. My student loans were in interest relief, so no payments and the gov't made the interest payments so the debt did not increase. We're in Canada, so medical expenses were minimal. Neither one of us saw a dentist for several years though, which led to a few expensive dentist visits when dh finally went again (we had more income by that point).

Currently, with a mortgage, city taxes, 6 people to feed, etc., it is not doable for us. And frankly, I'd receive more than $14,000 in gov't aid if we had no income.

[New]

I couldn't where I live.

[tayndrewsmama]

We would barely be able to pay for our food with that amount. We have a tremendous allergy list and all the paying down of debt in the world isn't going to change that.

[Drummer's Wife]

Originally Posted by tayndrewsmama

We would barely be able to pay for our food with that amount. We have a tremendous allergy list and all the paying down of debt in the world isn't going to change that.

I was totally thinking about this on my way home from the grocery store today. I mean, we don't have a lot of allergies to deal with, but we are picky about what food we buy. We spend at least 1K per month on food. So, 14K per yr would basically buy food. I do know we could feed 6 people for much less if we had to, but it still wouldn't leave much to pay for everything else (assuming we didn't have to pay for housing for whatever reason).

[earthmama369]

Originally Posted by MoonMama78

Does your family presently live or do you thing your family could live on an annual income of $14,000 a year? I'm interested in hearing how you manage with a very low income and a mortgage payment, food, bills , kids etc... I'm trying to make it work.

Peace,

MoonMama

Personally? No. We live in Connecticut, which has a pretty high cost of living. It was a struggle at $30,000 a year. We're also almost $20,000 out-of-pocket in medical bills this year alone and still counting. And that's with health insurance. *sigh*

[crunchy_mama]

We could make it a while like that but if any emergency happened we would be up poop creek as they say:

morgage-
current 605- could cut out extra we pay to reduce the life of the loan- $500
Gas- $200- This is not an option unless we would move there is NOOOOO public trans. here
Groceries - $200 bare bones- I am sure we would feel like crap though w/ that quality of food- We have to keep a GF/DF diet
Car Insurance- $40 month (assuming we sold one of our vehicles - right now it is $70 month)
Phone- Current- $85- if we cut internet- it would be $35
Electricity- $150 (sometimes it is less than this but it would be a struggle some months to get it that cheap)
Total = $1125=13,500
That leaves $500 a year personal taxes are about $150 (property taxes and house insurance included in the mortgage)= $350 then there would be maintenance involved in having an older vehicle that I am sure would whip that out and maybe small gifts for holidays

[crunchy_mama]

Originally Posted by Satori

umm no, look at who's answering, its mostly those who don't. I have my own place, I CHOOSE not to own a home at this point, especially in this crazy expensive state. I don't have a roommate nor do I have plans for one, I have cheap rent (about $200 less then the neighbors are paying) because I got in on a special (and negotiated the terms of the special! $250 off 2nd months rent on a 6 mo lease became that $250 spread out over the 6 months) while rents were down and it was still still down when my lease was up and I managed to get a 1 year lease at that same rate. Rents are now going up and I don't know what we will do when the lease is up but I'm not going to worry about it right now. I'm a great couponer and often get most of what we need for pennies. I shop at mostly at ethnic markets which are far cheaper and I have a huge upright freezer so I can stock up on food when its dirt cheap and I can divert money to other places. I simply make radically different choices then many of the middle and upper income families here make. Like I said earlier, many people often confuse WANTS and NEEDS, heaven knows I often did for years.

Why the anger? Certainly we all have issues w/ distinguishing wants and needs however from your post I get that we all could get by that amt of income if we just stopped buying all these wants.

As previous posters said it really depends on the COL of each particular area. Where I live there is NO public transportation- which means we have to have a vehicle and subsequent insurance and gas money to have a job, cell phone coverage is spotty so having a cell phone just for emergencies(instead of a home phone line) doesn't work. I don't have access to ethnic markets or anything like that either, in more rural places like I live the options like this just don't exist. Besides the fact that the answers were based on having a mortgage, which totally changes things as that varies widely. It is not realistic to me to then base that on special situations living w/ other people or special deals on rents that are not available to everyone and then act like we are all living high on the hog.

[LeighB]

Originally Posted by crunchy_mama

We could make it a while like that but if any emergency happened we would be up poop creek as they say:

Groceries - $200 bare bones- I am sure we would feel like crap though w/ that quality of food- We have to keep a GF/DF diet

Actually we are GF/DF too, and we spend about 100-150 a month on food. It is hard and we do a lot of beans and rice dishes, but I manage to get fresh vegetables and fruit everyday. It took a looonnnggg time to figure out how to do that though, and we are only a family of three.