Living cheaply

How do you do it? Post tips for surviving as inexpensively as possible. Let's say that you have a pre-tax income of $30,000 USD. Also assume, for this experiment, that this is all you have. No savings or non-governmental assistance. What would you do and how would you survive?

Don't move out. If you have to, live in a trailer.

Most of people’s money goes to rent. Find a cheaper alternative.

But lentils and rice in bulk.

Yes, if that's an option, of course. But I specific no savings OR non-governmental assistance (family would obviously be non-gov).

I'm not sure what alternatives there are except for living in a car or van or something but then the question becomes where to park the damn thing?

Food would be a significant chunk of the budget I imagine. High protein cheap groceries would go far.

I grew up on frugality. Then my dad got rich. We still practice it but use the extra money left over for investments and business
I guess just eat less, as fucked up as that sounds. We’d eat like 1 meal a day, and I still do despite being richer than most. Only drink water and coffee. Eat oranges so you don’t get too sick.

You can stretch a limited income out a lot if you go without certain things, the kinds of things normies and NPC's get hyped for.
-Subscription services. Cut them out entirely, use bit torrent
-Quit smoking/drinking etc. You don't need that crap.
-If you think you need a new phone/shoes/etc, ask yourself do you REALLY need it? If yes, shop around. Don't get the samsung, get a motorola for a quarter of the price for eg.
-Never """upgrade""" anything. You don't need it.

It's worth noting that even at $30,000 one would not qualify for food stamps in most states (which is to say the lowest cost of living states which are the ones someone making low income would choose to move to). You would however qualify for governmental assistance in health insurance although the plan you would be able to get would cost somewhere around a hundred dollars a month depending on the state and wouldn't be great so if you ever got into a jam medically you'd be fucked.

I don't know the exact numbers but I assume tax would be $5,000 a year dropping you down to $25,000 net income.

I have a bread machine that makes bread from ingredients. I'm learning how to make pizza at home. Learn how to turn ingredients into meals. That should cut your food bill in half.

Use LED lights, specifically individual diodes like the one on your phone, for light. You can buy cheap USB lights from China or Taiwan.

Buy sturdy clothes that are built to last. Pirate all of your entertainment.

If you don't want to get roommates, or even double bunkbed roommates like a hostel, buy a mobile home, or an RV, or convert a van. You're probably not going to be dating much so who cares about your living arrangement?

That takes care of most bills. Don't get health insurance until you're 30 or 40. If you can share an internet bill with someone, do it.

For phone numbers I recommend tracfone or mint mobile if you must have a real one. Otherwise consider a wifi phone.

Pre tax income 30k won't be paying much tax at all anyway. That's 2500 a month. Get a studio or live with roommates. I drive a 2005 Toyota so no debt. Read, guitar, and game so don't need to budget for fun

Rent 800$

Food 300$

Utilities 100$

Internet 80$

That's it. I've lived on 9-15k per year in the US, not living with any family, since 2014. Inflation is hitting my grocery budget a little bit, but only on the bigger trips where I have to replace higher cost items like maple syrup or cheese. Eat a lot of beans, vegetables, bananas, pork. Don't get much beef cause it's high.

Buy a bag of lab-grade ascorbic acid from amazon bulk supplements or someone similar. Take about a quarter to an eighth of a spoonful whenever you feel like you need antioxidants or to clear fog. It will last you for years. It's the active ingredient in vitamin C.

ty fren

Move to Arkansas, Mississippi, South Dakota, or West Virginia. Lowest average rents in the country.

Look up recipes from countries where people get paid 90 cents a day
Invest 100 towards lowering all bills from each paycheck
Invest 100 in stock market every pay check
Only drink water
Look up what houses you can buy that cost the same as your apartment

Whoops, "food grade" not lab grade.

Future chemical
$59.00
Ascorbic Acid 10 lbs. Pure USP Food Grade Crystals, Non GMO, No Fillers

It's a powder and it comes in a bag. This is thousands and thousands of daily doses.

here comes the gigajew to tell you to make dandelion and squirrel soup just like back in 1864 virginia

Look up recipes from countries where people get paid 90 cents a day

Interesting idea but the problem is the ingredients will cost far less in their native countries than they would in the USA. I like the idea nonetheless.

Invest 100 towards lowering all bills from each paycheck

Like more energy efficient lights and appliances?

Invest 100 in stock market every pay check

That's good. Over the course of one year that would be $1,200 invested and even a little bit helps especially over a long time.

Look up what houses you can buy that cost the same as your apartment

Housing would undoubtedly be the single most expensive item in your budget. I'm not sure at $30,000 annually you'd ever be able to buy anything, though. I think you would be a permanent renter. Unless you found a local selling a modest home on owner financing. Perhaps you could work a deal to buy a little house with a monthly payment around your rent cost. On the other hand, owning instead of renting will bring other problems. Things break and properties need repairing which someone with a small income and no savings isn't capable of doing.

Those Tesla cube homes will probably cost between $150-200k. They're like studio apartment sized but you only have to pay property tax, insurance, repairs and buy land lol.

Find the cheapest smallest piece of land near your work and save everything you can for 10 years and you could probably afford it. Save $15k per year.

Buy a stock pot and make large stews, shit like hungarian goulash. Shit they would have made in like the 1400s in central europe where everything is made in a big pot. Then put it over pasta, or rice, or whatever to spread it further.

Family of 4.

I purposely reduce hours to stay within benefits range. I will also negotiate and lower my hourly wage for barter stuff.
(Pay me 20/hr and then the remainder 10/hr goes towards XYZ off the books)

I've paid off a house this way, but I regret that, since its an asset that has made it difficult to continue being such a parasite on society.

They take your tax dollars, take them back?

Between child tax credit, health care, food stamps, food banks we do really well.

My wife wanted me to stop working if possible since we enjoy time togther, and time at work is away from the family, like, why the fuck did i pursue a family to avoid them every day.

Current job, I was doing some labor / mechanical stuff, then they needed help with PC diagnostics and imap crap so I worked from home for a few days to fix it.

The kids were like, Wow, dad, your here, I can ask you all sorts of questions!

Then i was like.... Holy fuck,what is the point? I've been working 60-70 hrs a week, to make a better life for my kids, but all they wanted was dad and mom, home together, having fun and learning.

So fuck it, never chase the dollar. Strangely, since I stopped going for money at all, I've had so much free time to meet random people.

We found a free place to live, like 4 bedrooms, no rent, just keep an eye on the place. How did I meet this boomer? I made eye contact and chatted for a bit at a hardware store.

Too bad bread is shit for health

Save $15k per year.

That would be extremely difficult on such a low income, don't you think? Obviously if someone already had $500,000 in the bank this scenario would be different but the idea is to think of how to live cheaply with such meager income and no additional source of money. In any event, $200,000 is far too much for someone only earning $30,000 a year.

Good answer. A lot of pasta (because it's inexpensive) and stew. You could buy inferior cuts of meat which are tough but if slow cooked would be more palatable. Even better if your situation allowed a garden so you could grow your own vegetables. That would help offset grocery bills. Really solid answer, anon.

Eat healthy, which means you prepare everything yourself and eat lots of vegetables. Bit of meat, bit of fish, rice, beans chickpeas, lentils, nits.. my main meals are like 1.5$each, all of them tasty restaurant level shit.. buy clothes and shoes and all that kind of stuff on black friday for 30% the regular price.. get a used laptop, computer or whatever from facebook marketplace.. theres so many morons selling stuff now that its available to them.. it was to complicated to setup an ebay account for many people.. laptop gets cluttered with malware, and useless bloated unoptimized software, fans get dirty and make the cpu to overheat and start throttling performance.. people just buy a new one..
That basically covers everything

I've paid off a house this way, but I regret that, since its an asset that has made it difficult to continue being such a parasite on society.

I was unaware that assets are calculated for determining government assistance. I thought welfare programs only cared about income, not worth.

Sorry, I will add that.

- Mechanic ASE Cert
- A+ Certified
- Electrician
- Heavy equipment repair / operation
- Years as a manager

I can literally fix anything, ive never failed to fix something from a boiler to a zaxis-200, so there is that aspect. I will gladly just fix things instead of buying them.

If i do have to buy them, i will use them for 80 days then return then, because, fuck you, thats why.

Im the guy that got REI to change their return policy.

Damn, anon. kek do you need a platonic husband in exchange for a visa? I have some savings I could contribute.

Oh, wouldn't it be great to get the fuck out of the Untied States? Sigh.

10K for rent. 7k for food. Its doable but absolutely no room for fun or expenses.

kek you rule, anon. Living your best life.

If I made that little id kill myself, I make $128k TC

Assuming you're not suicidal, though, how would you do it?

Seems like making a helium tank device is the best way to go if you need to an hero. Or just ODing on OxyContin

It's not just cheaper to grow your own, it's healthier. Those mexicans putting fentanyl on the produce. Congress needs to make a law, NO ILLEGAL ALIENS WITHIN 1000 feet of any farm.

“I had a razor with me. It was a good friend, the razor; it lay ready and open before me. It gave me comfort, it was an escape.”

150 a week on food is insane if you're living alone

Better to hit food banks - Dehydrate anything not used.

keep 1 year of food avaliable
Gardening is incredibly expensive to get into successfully.

A LOT OF STATE PROGRAMS EXIST FOR FARMING AND WILL PAY FOR A GREENHOUSE

If you have 25k you can come and live a medieval life

nepremicnine.net/oglasi-prodaja/dolz-bukovce-vikend_6561873/

$15 Lentils
$15 Rice
$120 on Potters 1 Gallon Vodka

Unironically seems /comfy/. Like the kind of place to live, get old, and die in. Unfortunately unless you're a Slovenian citizen you can't just show up, buy the place, and live there. I wonder how much work it would require to rehab that shack.

Imagine the farts living on rice, beans, and vodka for a month.

Too bad bread is shit for health

So is being canadian.
There are ways to make healthy bread

energy efficient lights and appliances?

Tools fall into that category also

house

I bought a 60k house with 3 grand, you
will end up repairing and polishing which will chip away at entertainment costs, you spend money but unlike entertainment it’s essentially a piggy bank, don’t get the house in a black neighborhood and a single story house so you can get on the roof

A LOT OF STATE PROGRAMS EXIST FOR FARMING AND WILL PAY FOR A GREENHOUSE

What agency?

Dont tempt me with a good time ;3

The lentil rice food is good tip ty. It actually has all essential aminoacids

You won't live long from 30k. Do you mean 30k for the rest of your life? Or are you dying?

1. Open ze googal
2. type in ze " programs for the growing in a house of green and glass in (STATE) "
3. ???????
4. Niggers

The assumption is that it's a $30,000 USD annual income (or $2,500 a month) not just $30,000 in the bank.

The house is a necessary because you then can go buy a potato, leeks, celery, apples,etc and plant it which drops prices again, don’t think you can’t buy I house my shit parents convinced me I couldn’t and it would come with all kinds of problems until one day I said fuck it what’s the worst that can happen and bought a house in 10 days start to finish

Eu and people from oecd countries can buy real estate just like slovenians..

You won't live long from 30k

I have been making below poverty level for 30 years after a work accident put me on SSDI.
It's actually very liberating

OK, Anon and I are going in together on the place. Do you want to go in on it too?

Its true, once you suddenly realize

" I do not have to go anywhere, or do anything today."

Than transitions to

" What do I want to do today? "

You hit the golden ticket as long as you can fuck ;3

I recommend listening to this book, it helps get you un-addicted to a paycheck

Then buy land and buy a cheap steel warehouse.

Ah, well that's cool. Then I could buy it and hang out for 90 days before having to go somewhere else for 90 days. I didn't know Slovenia allowed foreigners to buy land. Most countries, believe it or not, do not permit foreigners to own property.

While I'm glad that you have made it work, anon, I'm not sure that living in such conditions would be considering liberating. I feel like everyday would be a struggle. On the other hand, once you figured out your budget and were somewhat established it would probably be okay. I mean, really, people are either happy or not happy. There are happy poor people and happy rich people and sad poor people and sad rich people.

I have lived on much less. It helps a lot to avoid alcohol, drugs, intoxicants. To only buy raw ingredients and make your meals from that. To buy food when you run out of food. I have lived on just a plate of rice per day, gone many days without food. This was after going homeless. All of this is preferable to serving in the child murdering zionist Jew military.

TY, and no niggers for many miles.

I'm down but the issue is, as I said before, that on a non-EU passport you would have to leave every 90 days for at least 90 days before going back. That would get tiring after a while not to mention expensive with travel costs and lodging expenses wherever you ended up.

I completely forgot about Motorola as a brand. I was about to buy a $1400 Samsung with no SD slot. You Aussies are alright.

Meditate and learn to subside on cabbage spinach and whatever animal meat I can get

If you're talking about being homeless then I'd go to the wilderness and build a hut and learn to hunt

LOL.Shit its just like some faggot podcast in longhand form.

Fucking Asians do not comprehend time so its all a long game to them.

Gooks = My lineage
Crackers = My Keeeeds
Niggers = Muh fug bip doo

Core Takeaways:
The Rich Don’t Work for Money:
They make money work for them by investing and creating passive income streams.

Financial Education is Crucial:
Schools don’t teach how to manage or grow money — financial literacy is self-taught.

Assets vs. Liabilities:
The wealthy acquire assets (things that put money in your pocket) and avoid liabilities (things that take money out).

Mindset Matters:
Rich Dad encourages thinking like an investor and entrepreneur; Poor Dad values job security and traditional education.

Work to Learn, Not Just to Earn:
Broaden your skills — especially in sales, marketing, and investing — instead of only seeking promotions or raises.

That's an idea I've never considered. Is that even legal? Can you live in one of those steel warehouses? I imagine it would depend on the jurisdiction you resided in. Some rural counties (which is where you would be living given the cheap land) probably don't give a fuck.

use a credit card for rewards points and pay it off every month. youll have an extra $1k easy
put your cash in a fidelity cash management account under SPAXX and order a debit card. now your money is also making 3.98% all the time as well, while being able to spend it or use it at the atm at the same time with no hassle

Do you get AWOL, anon? Not judging, just curious because you implied that being homeless was better than being in the military.

Have worked below minimum wage to afford food. Have worked in illegal and dangerous conditions without breaks in sweltering for not much money. All of this is better than betraying God and Jesus Christ and serving the church bombing zionist Jews.

Niggers exist everywhere. I lived in SC and it was nigger fucking jungle zone, but they were southern negros.

Up north, we have less... maybe, but they are uppity negros

FURTHER NORTH, THERE ARE STILL NIGGERS HERE IN ALASKA

WENT TO FUCKING WALMART AND THERES NIGGERS HERE FOR SOME REASON.

Impossible to escape them.The key is to actually educate your family about them from an early age.

Genetic condition wise. My kids know that niggers are down syndrome level of IQ and should treat them like a retard.

You treat police the same way.

Slow movements.

Friendly attitude

compliments

There was a program for a green house, but you have to have

1. garden beds
2. intent to produce

YOU CAN ACTUALLY REGISTER AS A FARMER IF YOU FILE AN " INTENT TO " NOTICE TO AVOID THE 2500 SALES PER YEAR IN PRODUCE REQIUREMENT.

Redpill me on south dakota

Look up Samsung Galaxy A-series, retard

No clue about it. I'll do a quick search and see if I can find cheap housing. I imagine up there you could probably buy a small home for a song. Hardly anyone lives there after all.

Between the injury and the eventual SSDI many years later, I lost all possessions except what I could carry or stash at a friends house.
The most liberating thing was finding out what is really important for a good life, and how much bullshit we have is not needed.

That sucks. How is poverty liberating?
Do you have to stay in the usa? If you work remote or don't work then moving to a poorer european or asian country might be good.

With 30k a year you would make like double the average wage in Hungary. You could also move to Croatia which has nice beaches. Or Slovenia like that anon said.

If you speak spanish then even spain. It's almost the average wage even there and spain has cheap housing and many immigrants even brit or american.

Neet kingdom here I come........

If you can't, just get a friend to let you use their home address for legal purposes. It shouldn't be that complicated, but you're right there might be a regulation against it. Oh wait, people live in literal trailers in the US lmao

How do I live off of $17 an hour? Fairly simple if humble.

live in motorhome van with toilet and shower that can park in a regular spot

insurance is 80 a month for full coverage cause RV

Couple tanks of gas a month to move around occasionally and find a place to park for the night

alarm goes off at six in the morning, at the factory by seven o’clock after quick shower and coffee to clean out guts

xbox and WiFi in RV for weekend/after hours entertainment

couple hundred bucks each month put aside for tires/maintenance/renting a room if motorhome breaks down

small fringe and pantry for essentials plus stove

It’s a Gypsy way to live but I’m saving a ton of money. Gotta keep yourself clean and your motorhome clean so law enforcement doesn’t have any reason to bug you, throw a work vest in the front seat so they know you’re not a complete bum and are just working and living in the motorhome

No, it is that a lot of men, especially white men, are being shut out of the private sector by racist hiring policies in order to push them into the military.

I have family from Uzbekistan. The US military has called my little sister a "sand n-r" to defend their massacres of hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children since I was a child.

The military is always hiring. My point is that I will not break down and betray my God and my family.

If I have to endure hunger and/or homelessness again I will. I hope that the military propagandists read this and understand.

If you try to push me into the military by force I will violently resist and die a martyr.

Do you have to stay in the usa? If you work remote or don't work then moving to a poorer european or asian country might be good.

Originally the scenario didn't specify so I guess moving out of the US is acceptable, sure. The problem with that is you can't just show up somewhere and decide to live there (unless of course you're Mexican and jump the southern American border then it's okay, I guess, because reasons). I think there are a handful of countries that allow someone to open a bank account and provided they put a certain amount of money in the account they're allowed to stay for as long as they want but I doubt any European countries are that way. I don't know much about Asia desu.

I have 10 acres in the CA desert. I was going to do something like that there.
You know all those fruit stands out in the country that have nobody there, just fruit and a box to leave the money in?
Those people are meeting the requirements of "being a farm" by selling their crops.

It's simple and cheap, but I'm looking for one with a stylus so I can draw. Thanks tho, I'll keep this model in mind

That sucks. How is poverty liberating?

see

Based, anon. I'm glad it's working out for you. How much do you have saved up? Any chance at getting a better job in the future? Maybe a promotion? Best of luck, fren.

I mean, technically it would seem more of a " Martyr " end result if you accepted the conscription and did whatever you could to cause internal damage to the machine.

I have empathy. I wanted an IT entry level job. I got my A+, my director said, " you got it, they are hiring 4 people "

They hired
1. nigger
2. nigger
3. nigger
4. nigger

So now there were 4 niggers running around, and none of them could fix computers. They would just take the item, and walk away, a few weeks later, the head of the IT department would bring it back.

I literally fixed a printer in front of that guy. Set up IMAP POP3 shit (basic) also in front of him.
WE FUCKING TALKED ABOUT EVERQUEST ANDSETTINGUPASERVERATWORK

He wouldnt make eye contact with me after that shit.

Dont do fast food but, if you must, don't do premium drinks at fast food joints. Stick to a couple value menu sandwiches. Walk instead of driving or door dash that way you offset the extra calories from processed shit and get some activity.

Go for it, anon. There's tons of these little homes in South Dakota in various conditions. Some good, some not so good. This is the first one I saw and it seems okay especially for being listed at $60,000. I would assume you could jew it down for less.

zillow.com/homedetails/3104-Chicago-St-Java-SD-57452/194990372_zpid/

Use LED lights, specifically individual diodes like the one on your phone, for light. You can buy cheap USB lights from China or Taiwan.

I put a meter on my circuit. Running 14 of the 800lm LED bulbs from ikea all at once only uses like 21 watts.

so you may as well live comfortably. just buy the bulb from ikea.

running a single one of these bulbs nonstop, would cost you $0.16 per month

Yes, get water set up first.

I almost did that, but I didnt have the money to invest at the time.

Sadly I inherited NOTHING.

Its taken years of fucking around to get to where most people with a normal family start at.

Look into " Greening the desert " You can build berms and other catchment systems and after a few years you can actually get a permaculture going somewhere that has 2-5 inches per years.
sigh. I was born out californie way, say there so many niggers there, you dan just reach out and grab em off the vine!

Sadly, bad school laws.

Pre-tax is annoying because you have to mentally calculate the post tax result. So just treat it as post-tax.

What said. 1000 a month on rent (Without even other considerations) is 12k a year, or slightly over 1/3rd of the income. Food is insanely it though. I'm always shocked when I realize the ramifications. I can get 3lb of sirloin steak for around 20 bucks from a wholesale retailer. With rice and being gluttonous as fuck with the meat portions and amount of rice that extends out to about 8-10 meals. There's other elements to the fried rice like sauces and so on but let's just round it out to about 30 dollars given you don't use up all of the rice or various asian sauces/oils. 30 bucks for 10 meals = 3 bucks a meal. Then consider 1 fast food meal is usually around 10-12 dollars now, so it's basically 3 meals versus 8-10 for the same price.

Based. Nobody ever at the end of their life went "I wish I had made more money" unless they were dying of starvation or not having enough money. Sure as shit woulda went "I wish I had spent more time with my family". I'll never be a family man but you sound like you are a great father.

If that income is guaranteed regardless of location then I'd move to a low cost of living city/state and live a middle class existence. Most likely in the great plains of America.
Too many dopes think that places like LA, Chicago, NYC, etc are the gold standard for CoL in America. And that's because they slave away in those festering shit holes instead of obeying their biological imperative and being a nomad until they find a decent place to settle.

The problem with that is you can't just show up somewhere and decide to live there

True I did not think about that, if you don't work or marry someone then you cannot become a resident...
You can get golden visa in some european countries, but you need a big capital not 30k. Usually 250k-500k, but idk for sure.
I think you can open bank accounts, you just cannot become a resident but idk.

Thanks. Its difficult to endure, because the main boomer saying is " WORK MORE HARDER "

We homeschool, so if I am here, we are literally researching things together. It almost made me cry just of the beauty of the moment.

Its so difficult to even be alive honestly. We were never supposed to live in groups this large. I fear so much for my children as I know what is beneath the vapid gaze of 99% of the population.

I had those kids reading before 3. Parent say, " How did you do it "

-I read to them.

Lol. fuck.

Now its even worse, kids have to compete with phones for attention. I've caught myself a few times doing it, and its literally painful.

This fucking respirating dopamine replicator apparatus wishing for any escape of mind.

Sorry, ranting. Its so hard being an adult, though the alchemy of psyche involved is a hard temper

Yeah you are probably right we have a lot of extra stuff

I think everyone understands that a dollar in Kansas goes further than in San Francisco but I'm sure the cost of living differences internally between states at large is very significant. Maybe it is, I don't know I guess.

also if youre a 1099, talk to a tax guy about opening an llc taxed as an s corp. youll have extra work to do, and youll have to pay some fees and shit, but youll potentially save a LOT in taxes a year
if youre not a 1099, go to an actual tax guy. theyll find stuff you didnt think to writeoff.

That's wise

I have an A 50
I call it the new nokia
motherfucker refuses to break down after almost 6 years of rough use

not doing this in California

different anon but I've gone a few years in CA at a shitty job with $1100-$1300 take home every two weeks. Still managed to bank around 10k+. It's not some magical move, it's not having rent because I inherited my parents home when they died. Then life style is sit around the house doing nothing but video games or watch TV.
Must pay bills = Power $65-$85, Gas (as in heat) $30-$45, internet $133 (I should change). Util is $360 ever other month. $80 phone.$300-$500 on food being I tend to go screw it who cares? I'm not doing anything else so why not spend a bit more. Prop tax is $1100 a year due to prop 13.
Then clearly I bought a new PC and TV and work clothing etc bought a washer being it broke.... I'm going to add car insurance soon (have car in garage) as I just walked/biked everywhere to save more money.. It breaks down to about $1200 or so per month. Yet it's not much of a life. I don't go anywhere or do anything. I don't want to but that's not the point..
tl;dr no rent. Rent is what is killing everyone paying it

I made $21 an hour and next check I will get a raise to $27. In 3 more years it should be $58. I will break down my budget and monthly expenses.

Income $650 weekly with $100-200 extra from overtime

Rent $0
Car payment $0
Insurance $0
Cell phone $65
Food $250
Electric $100
Hysa $300
Stocks $400
Roth IRA $150
Streaming subs $50
Gym $30
Monthly massage $75

The secret is I live with family, own no car, and spend little money. I could save more but I want for little so why struggle just so number goes up. I went from 15k of credit card debt to 200k net worth and once I hit about 15k liquid money stopped being a major concern. I have frugality installed in me from years of getting out of debt and now I don’t consume. Why go back to rice and beans with no Netflix just to make number go up a little faster? I save more then I spend every check and spend the rest.

I wouldn't even limit myself to the great plains desu, I'd move to Kentucky again if I had the chance. I was paying around 700 for a 2BR/2B in Lexington and was getting by on my goy warehouse job at Amazon. The internet was decent and there was plenty of A/C to deal with those horrible summers.

This country offers plenty of opportunity for people willing to search.

It is hard as a social animal to resist that societal pressure, but I try and just remember that they aren't going to give a shit when you are down and out. If this was old timey tribe or village then sure you listen to what they have to say because times get rough they got your back and you got theirs. But der boomer is just a backseat driver who will be angry if you succeed, smug if you fail, and complain if you try. Hell, I wrote that before I even read your point of

We were never supposed to live in groups this large.

So we are on the same page.

In terms of the fear for your kids there's no guarantees but being present and mentoring them will be their best odds to do well. My late father was always away traveling on work and clearly that income did great for us (and still does for my mom even when he's been dead for a decade now) but without ragging on him I know I would be a better adult if he had been more present. But the presentness he was there for was invaluable as it is, and I am grateful for it. Beyond the basic minimum of avoiding utter destitution no kid when they are an adult and fully grown ever went "I wish my parents had brought home more money so I co

And it's fine - you need to express those thoughts in some way. Bottling it up goes nowhere. It sounds like you are doing good so try and be proud and take confidence in what you've done right rather than focus on the anxiety of what might go wrong or whatever.

bake
flour is cheap as fuck if you buy it from a mill
making stuff like bread is mostly just waiting around and an actual 30 minutes of work if you don't have specialized appliances

Yeah Midwest. Probably couldn't do it on the West Coast. They either want you poor so you are on benefits or rich so you pay for benefits. They don't like people that skate at the bottom of the system like I do. I'm about to buy land and build a sandbag house and then I can work even less or maybe not at all if I get enough in investments. I'm living a really happy life man and you don't need a lot to do it. The people that give their lives to the system get on the consumer scam pipeline and eventually need more and more money to be satisfied. Wealthy people and I look at the same sky and return to the same earth. Be happy now cause later might not come.

I'm a native S. Californian. I got the fuck out of there when there was nothing affordable to do with my land.
I went from 8" of rain a year to 44" a year and have to learn about these things called seasons.
I just finished clearing the underbrush from 1/3 acre of woods on the girlfriends 1 1/3 acre plot.
I'm thinking about a small money crop like collecting the pollen from fennel.
A greenhouse would be mandatory for that.

Start looking for a new job. I was making $36k in a grocery store working night shifts when I was 16.

Like seriously. Man the fuck up.

Based. Way to go, anon. You're making it work.

Go to estate sales and buy up all of the consumables like toothpaste etc

Buy burners phone use their cheapest plan

Don't pay for streaming use Tubi Pluto or pirate or go to library

Don't eat out

Don't buy frozen foods

Shop at the thrift store

Reuse groceries sacks and garbage bags

Reuse tinfoil

Reuse zip locks

Reuse whatever you can

Lol that is a 62 year supply for the wife and I. Ty, fren. Just bought a bottle for thirteen dollars that will last the both of us three years. Will buy this when it runs out.

It's an awakening of appreciation for the little things that make civilized life.

A secure place to sleep and keep stuff

A non-public bathroom

the rest is gravy

bake

scratch cooking in general saves a ton of money. Even more so if one stick to sales items and drops eating beef. Stick to chicken and ham with the bulk of the meal being rice, veggie or basically anything other than the higher cost meat.
One also has to accept you might be eating the same basic meal over and over..

1M+ in liquid assets. Own small business making 60K. Pay myself $1500/mnth, moved to a low cost area. Mortgage $800. Cheap car that I barely use. Business pays for tools and things that I need. Pay $0 in taxes. Easy mode.

Yes, of course, but the assumption is that the income is what it is. Stop over complicating it.

Technically my approach is less complicated. I'm not going over the mental gymnastics of how many coupons I clipped for $0/hr.

I've gazed upon the ouroboros and experience is the thing a human requires and cannot be given.

My father died when I was 2, and my mother was insane with insurance money, then destitute, so i've experienced being a little prince to being a little pauper. That mortification was completed when she became a drug addicted prostitute.

I recall being handed a sweaty $20 bill after she finished, because, she had a DUI, so I had to drive her to places to prostitute herself.

If I gave my kids anything its some sense of stability of emotions and honestly Siddhartha had some good one liners.

1. Learn to think
2. Learn to wait
3. Learn to fast

I would say my largest anxiety now is. What to do I with this shit.

I have a condo down in SC making some rental incole.

Land in FAGALASKA ive developed this year, so can....... cabin? I dont know, I hate it here.

In WA theres about 70k of merchandise in a storage unit.

What do I truly desire in life?

1. Some space
2. Some time
3. My family

Im all spread out. My wife wants to go back to Carolina, she loves the beach and the weather.

rant

Born near San Diego at Military base.

Impressive. Putting in the time for coupon clipping and discounts and whatnot probably goes a long way on a small income.

Thanks anon, I have came a long way. Here’s from darker times, I was working two jobs, 60 hours a week every fucking week, no spending money on anything. I made a promise to never go back to that.

Make your own ethanol, anon. Sugar, water, yeast. That is it. Water purifier if you want to distill it. Turbo yeast will get you up to 20% ABV. That said, don't poison yourself.

scratch cooking in general saves a ton of money

ye that's a given but this should be a primary skill to begin with
baking just adds more variety to your meals so you don't have to eat the same shit over and over

I realize the odds of getting caught are slim but I'm pretty sure distilling alcohol even for personal consumption is technically illegal. Again, most likely you would never get in trouble for such a thing provided you aren't selling it to others but still I think that's a federal felony.

What if a nigger randomly breaks your legs

LOL it takes like 30 minutes to rig up a fucking distiller.

Honestly I do not drink at all anymore. Its just a fucking waste of time with kids.

Now, cultivating mushrooms ;3 That was fun, I enjoyed the sterility and making prints.

Growing weed was fun too, Deep water culture is my fav.

I guess. I should be working but I am just in a creativefunk right now.

Working on a movie, like 5 interviews all cut down, 17 minutes run time before editing with footage and shit, should be 30 minutes when done.

Avoiding it hardcore. Need to get new drone footage IMO...........

At least the people ive shown the rough cut to all said it was great.

I get creative work done between 5am-1pm, after that I do not like to do anything too involving unless its a personal taste.

Another pro tip for people is sign up for no proof class action lawsuits. I get checks in the mail 1-2 times a month for anywhere from $5 to $150 for good ones. Type it in Google and sign up for them

Fishing and trapping are where it is at. Set lines, gill nets, snares and conibear traps work twenty four seven. If you are far enough out you can snare deer and moose. That is a big payday. Bow and arrow for dispatch. Quiet.

lawful for motor vehicle use as a fuel additive supposedly

Som states care, some don't

if you go to papajohns or similar pizza places when theyre closing and wear bad clothing, sometimes if you take out their trash theyll give you a free pizza or two that they were gonna throw out anyways

$30,000 USD

I pay more than that in income tax what are you even doing

just commit fraud, bro

kek

i live on $300/month. my only bills are electric and phone. i raise chickens and pigs and have a giant garden and can around 400 qrts from it.

I pay more than that in income tax what are you even doing

if you pay that in income tax you dont know what youre doing, as soon as i hit $6k in taxes i decided to not make that happen ever again. you need a new accountant

Lets see.. hmmm. inflammatory comment. check.... hmmmm. BLM flag.... nice....

Its really sad I never got to be a nigger

I eat the same thing every day. Oatmeal with berries for breakfast chicken with salad apples and lentils for lunch and chicken and broccoli for dinner. These are all pretty cheap the chicken is the most expensive but you could replace that with ground beef and it would probably be cheaper. I don’t ever turn on my ac or heater those are luxuries you don’t need. I never use any sort of sauce or salt or spices because those are luxuries you don’t need. I only pirate games I only ever torrent anime I do not have any subscription services they are scams. I walk everywhere I need to go if it’s too far to walk to I don’t need to go there. I do not buy clothes I wear the same ones I had in high school they are about 14 years old now. I never buy anything for entertainment as entertainment is free. I only wash my clothes about once every couple months because guess what water costs money just don’t be a slob. The only thing I waste money on are my cigarettes they are precious to me and worth it tho. Just stop buying things you don’t need.

One meal a day

Abuse Snap and other government programs to the most of your ability. (I get 100% VA disability and SSDI for like 55k a year)

If you only make 30k pre tax, fake a disability, work off the table (I do this working at a resteruant and landscaping)

Shoplift as much as you can at self checkout. For example I am addicted to white monster and I put the barcode for a 1 walmart pie on the 24 pack. Obviously you have to buy SOME stuff legit and build friendships with the staff if u wanna do this long term

I steal the credit card info of non whites and sell it on the dark web. I will go into non white neighboorhoods and put card skimmers at gas pumps.

Burdenmaxxing and living like a king. Just bought a laptop with my VA money with a 4070ti and playing Oblivion while getting head from my GF like I am a kid again. I just turned 28 so I plan on kinda turning straight, as with my disability i really don't have to do anything.

foodbanks
free activities when you go out (eg, hiking/walks, outdoor events, events at community spaces)
cutting your own hair, even a buzzcut costs me $25+tip so that's like $400-500 yearly

rent a place with a small landlord you know personally and trade maintenance work/landscaping for rent reduction

utilize foodbanks to reduce grocery store trips to just once or twice a month

cooking at home and not eating out is probably the biggest one, not going out to bars or events is the second, not drinking booze or having other addictions is probably the third.

i quit smoking and switched to vaping and probably saved $500-1000 per year

look into churning bank accounts, some bank accounts have rewards for opening them and holding a minimum balance for a period of time. if you have $2500 to sit in a bank, you can open a chase checking/savings right now and theyll give you $1k.
other banks have better or different deals, and theres usually no fee or youll net positive after closing the account 6-8 months later. its not too hard and you can do it online. should net you a few hundred extra a year as well

First, quit being a pussy. Second, most of the time it isn’t fraud. Let’s say clif bar has a class action due to their white chocolate macadamia nut bars not having enough nuts or whatever. I for sure buy them and it just so happens I buy the exact amount that doesn’t require proof. In all honesty It’s probably a limit of 5 bars or $10 which I might have actually bought.

Eat oranges so you don’t get too sick.

Nigga, vit C tabs are so much cheaper and don't spoil.
Also it isn't the number of meals, it's how big they are and what they consist of.
Coffee is for fags who want to ruin their nervous system.
I would however do well to cut out alcohol.
One important point is to not try to be TOO frugal. Cutting costs on nutrition or going too far on cutting A/C if you live in Florida for example, can risk your health. In the long term, it's not worth it. Eat healthy, not just empty carbs and junk food, and live within your means but comfortably if possible. Even lost sleep comes back to haunt you.

church's will help pay bill or give food for free if you go and apply at them

Its fine hes NGMI. I've been doing these for years and have made quite a bit of gas money from being misled by corporations ;w;

I actually did that with chase and it was kinda bullshit. I recieved $200 if I kept an account open for three months and they charged a fee of $10 a month. So it’s now only $170 and then you get a tax form requiring you to pay taxes on $200 so it’s now $140ish profit. It really wasn’t worth the bullshit.

Credit card churning is a thing but it’s a comitment. You have to work for that $500.

Never cut your hair it contains all your power and vitality you will die if you cut it stop doing that

what exactly did the accountant do? i used to pay around $40k and when i went to go see about lowering them they told me my real only option was to get married and have kids.

Illegal as hell in Canada, too. But everyone does it here in the hills of British Columbia. I have never had the police in any place I have lived. I am clean, quiet, respectable. Selling it would be stupid.

Only the distilling it is illegal. You could just keep it as yeasty sugar wine, perfectly legal.

Live in a trailer home that you purchased cash. Look on fagbook marketplace for cheap tools, clothes, furniture, ride a bike if possible. Learn to fix things yourself.
Don't buy stupid shit, don't have a girlfriend that wasted your money, don't get caught up in child support

lentils, beans, stuff like quinoa or bulgur wheat are cheap as dirt and can easily be made delicious with minimal effort and expense

i recommend getting good at cooking 5-10 affordable dishes which can be made in bulk and which you really enjoy eating. people spend so much money on food it's retarded

dumpster diving is vastly underrated but getting harder because they are locking the dumpsters. you can still get a huge amount of free food and other stuff that is perfectly good. our society wastes such an enormous amount of perfectly good stuff, it's ridiculous.

pro-tip volunteering at a food bank or other food-distributing org is a great free food cheat code and plus a good way to meet people (mostly friendly boomers but occasional cool younger people too)

LOL it takes like 30 minutes to rig up a fucking distiller.

Having a still could get you in trouble. A water purifier is just for purifying water. Plausible deniability.

Move back with parents or get roomie
Sell car
Ride bus
Stop wasting money on alcohol, weed
Cancel all subscriptions, get VPN for free content
Work out at home
Play guitar
Cook at home
Get gov job even as a janitor: salary, health care, pension

The line of questioning and circumstances that would somehow lead an investigator to my rape dungeon / distillery / masterbatorium would honestly be wonderful to read someday.

Estate sales and thrift stores.

walmart near me left their bank sever open and I can deposit a few thousand a month into my bank account. I assume all the managers do it so why can't I ? sorry if this means you all have to pay a little more I guess

Gymcel

FOOD

largest expense

breakfast: chia pudding (it's literally just chia and milk, and it makes you feel full, also makes you fart a lot lol)

lunch: ground beef with wilted spinach (save money if you already have a grinder or handmixer, and you can make your own ground beef from cheaper cuts)

dinner: chicken thighs and rice

drink water with lemon juice throughout the day, find the cheapest way possible to get coffee (avoid Starbucks....make own cold brew at home?)

snacks: free salt packets available at any restaurant that serves fries

if you have access to land, try to grow food

you'd just blow out your asshole by week 3

slovenia is easily top 5 on my long-term relocation list. you guys have a beautiful country and you're smart and good people. also very progressive environmentally which is viewed poorly on Anon Babble but will be important in the coming decades.

Most people do not need a tax guy. Single, no kids, no mortgage and you have nothing to write off. Take the standard deduction and decide if a Roth or traditional 401k works better. The only time you need a tax guy is if your taxes are complicated and the vast majority of people don’t have that

what the fuck is saving? paying the bill before its past due?

i was a 1099 and turned myself into an s corp. my w2 wage (you hire yourself as an employee at your own corp) is pretty low but fair and i can back up my chosen wage with market data. look into the kohler payroll matrix to see a rough estimate of what you can look to pay yourself in w2 wages. its more paperwork but its extremely worth it. then youre able to write off a lot more shit as business expenses if youre smart about it, so you have more potential tax savings there than you would have as a 1099.
i went with a full s corp, but was told llc taxed as s corp gives the same benefits. youll have to talk to your accountant about that.
at my 1099 income when i started this i would have to pay $15k a year (no deductions whatsoever, not really what i paid). the max id pay with no deductions with an s corp is $5k, even lower with a lower w2 wage.
also if you have that much money, youre likely better putting that in lower risk stocks or bonds, make sure you have enough dividends as well. you can put those stocks/bonds up as collateral to get a loan from the bank. youre not taxed on the loan. you pay off the monthly payments with dividends from your stocks/bonds. once its repaid, your stocks/bonds were still growing in the market so you didnt lose much actual capital, just grew slower, got liquid cash, and didnt pay capital gains on it.
theres also stuff you can do with putting your assets into real estate, but thats more work.
if youre paying that much in taxes, you need to find a real accountant that knows all this shit. i pulled these strategies from the top of my head. theres a lot more granular stuff you can do as well.
fire your accountant immediately. paying 40k in taxes is criminal, youve gotta do more to protect your $
depends on how he is employed. tax guy can put things on your taxes that you might not think of. my tax guy was also $150, cheaper than id pay through turbotax, so there was no reason not to. and it worked out better for me.

Now I want to move to South Dakota. There are so many cute little towns with insanely cheap houses.

That guy has an African flag and probably had $14 to his name

ok, i was just a w2 employee

My only regret in getting married/having a kid is that if I didn't knock this bitch up I'd figure out how to live in a fucking tent and stack up. You're correct, this is where most of the money goes. I pay $2k for a 2 bedroom and I feel lucky, but only because I came from cities where 2 bedrooms where closer to 3k.

God if my rent could be literally "0" I would actually feel like I'm making my salary.

my comment about going to a tax guy was for OP. could save him a couple hundred

It would be difficult on that income to save (especially if the person did not own a home so they were paying rent) but perhaps not impossible. People do it.

Get a min-wage job at a gym or fitness center

free access to internet, laundry, kitchen, breakroom fridge, bathrooms, showers, climate control.

Then live in your car. Take an early morning or late night shift so nobody bothers you.

Well, the $30,000 assumes the person already has a job obviously. Do you mean work a second job?

Hey, if you saved up some money you could buy this house in groundhog town.

check, thats what i did. spent $70k on a house in the middle of nowhere and started riding a bike. life is pretty good right now, i finally have time to do my hobbies

You act like this is hard to do. You must live in some urban shithole.

That or quit the $30k and take the gym job. $14.50 per hour @40 hrs/week should be easy to find. But even if it's less, the amenities make up for the lost salary. At $11/hr you'd get into gibs territory.

I did this job for 4 years, but on our army bases in Germany. $22k per year went much further there, but even then working on any military bases you get access to the commissary for cheap tax-free food and the DFAC for $6 all-you-can-eat cooked meals.

Works for me, oranges were like the only pleasure I had

Honestly not a bad decision. I wouldn't mind living in a small town somewhere. Sell everything and buy a small home in a little town and chill. Could probably get a little job working at a hardware store or some shit, too, for extra money if needed.

That or quit the $30k and take the gym job. $14.50 per hour @40 hrs/week should be easy to find.

It would be the same. $14.50, 40 hours a week (assuming 52 weeks a year of course) is $30,160 or basically the same as the OP kek

But even if it's less, the amenities make up for the lost salary.

Maybe.

Also chickpeas

Ah. Well, modern society has reduced that pleasure to a tablet that comes in 250 count bottles of 500 mg for $6.88 at Wal-mart.
You're welcome, goy. It'll keep you alive without all that unnecessary enjoyment of life you keep kvetching about. Perfectly suited to modern society.

Lol

cold brew is an excellent way to save money and get daily caffeine fix with zero work

also a good snack: peanut butter, oats, honey, ginger, cinnamon. mix up real good and form into balls ping pong sized balls and stick in the fridge. add chocolate, cocoa, chopped fruit or whatever if you want.

save your onion/garlic/fat/bone/skin bits and stick them in a bag in your freezer until it's full, then boil it to make bone broth. optionally, boil it down to demiglace/bouillon.
voila, free soup base. add it to literally anything to make it better, richer, healthier.

take the brothpill anon.

I got a check from crunchyroll lawsuit for like 35 bucks last year

citrus fruit is so fucking good. just got a big bag of mandarines. each one a daily moment of zen with bonus immune system boost. God truly is good.

Here‘s my list of food items that are the cheapest option to ensure optimal nutrition (making sure you have potent forms for each vitamin, mineral and other necessary nutrients), since protecting your health so you can reduce any medical bills is a very smart move.

eggs (A, D, B2, B7, B12, Zinc, Sel, Phos, Iodine)

sweet potatoes (A)

carrots (A)

cabbage (K, C)

potatoes (C, Pot, Chro)

broccoli frozen (C, B9, B12, Cal, Chro)

sunflower seeds (E, B1, B3, B5, B6, B7, Mag, Zinc, Sel, Phos, Cop, Mang)

lentils (B1, B5, B6, B9, Iron, Mag, Zinc, Pot, Phos, Cop, Mang, Mol)

Oats (B1, B7, Mag, Mang)

chicken (B3, B5, B6, Sel, Phos, Chro)

tuna canned (B3, B6, Sel)

bananas (B6, Pot)

As you can see, eggs, lentils and sunflower seeds are basically natures multivitamin, so try to get some of those in daily. Vit c is especially important for a strong immune system, and cabbage (especially if you ferment it into sauerkraut) is one of the absolute best sources since ascorbic acid (artificial vit C) has pretty bad bioavailability. Pro tip: those fresh green pine needle tips in spring are loaded with vit c, eat some (check which varieties in your area are non toxic first).
Liver is also an excellent source of lots of nutrients but I left it out since most people won‘t eat it often enough and in large enough quantities to actually be practical. If you can stomach it, make it with lots of onions, seared in butter and seasoned well with salt, pepper and thyme. Also make sure to get enough potassium with potatoes and bananas. This list is optimized to use as many unprocessed items as possible in your diet whilst not making you suicidal. You can make many very delicious meals with it. For spices, stick to salt and pepper, but if you can, using spices and aromatics for variety is great. Especially onions, garlic, ginger and turmeric have top health benefits. Use olive oil for dressings and for cooking. Not the cheapest but best for your health, so it will pay out.

I spend less than $7000 per year living with my parents. That includes what I give them for board. I can't imagine actually spending money on any of the shit you listed. I just keep saving everything I make. Any new expenses I come across, I look at as a challenge to avoid parting with as much money as possible.

To add, get into foraging. Many wild herbs have insane health benefits and are free. Make sure you know wtf you are doing and stay away from roads and places where people walk their dogs. My favorites are wild garlic, dandelions and ofc mushrooms (one of very few food sources of Vit D if grown in sunlight, you can also „charge“ store bought mushrooms with vit D by letting them absorb sunlight). Absolutely delicious and will give you a huge health boost. If you can‘t stomach the bitterness of dandelion as a salad or sautéed, you can make fritters from the flowers. Just pick some when they are clean and dry, mix with an egg, some flour, some sparkly water, some salt and pepper and then fry in olive oil. Dip in yoghurt seasoned with fresh garlic, salt and pepper and you‘ll be amazed how yummy they are.

I wonder how many people in America are living this way on very little money. I suspect it's not an insignificant number.

Before I post my tips here's my financial QRD

Rent $420/month (Live with my brother, 2 bdrm apartment in the midwest)

Electric $30/month split

Utility gas $25/month split

100mbps Internet $25/month split

Phone $60/month

Car Insurace $140/month (Comprehensive, $500 deductible)

Car payment $0.00/month (Own my vehicle, 2016 focus)

Gas $70/month

Food $6-700/month (This is where I don't skimp, I have culinary training and cook all my meals with good ingredients, I never eat out)

Clothes (effectively zero dollars since september of last year when I dropped $60 at Ross)

Entertainment (See Internet bill)

Health Insurance $80 (Cheap plan with employer split, high deductible, I'm still in my twenties).

TOTAL expenditures: ~$1600/month ($2,000 if I wanted to live alone).

TAKE HOME $3800-4500/month driving local CDL B 40-50 hours a week

SAVINGS (whatever the difference is)

I used to be a ledudebro stoner alcoholic and would blow my biweekly paycheck in literally 48 hours. Like anything else in life, there’s no “hack” or “special formula.” It just takes discipline. I posted my grocery budget, but I still hit up the food bank each month and get a box of proteins and some more because it’s literally free. I shop at local thrift stores and can grab a pair of jeans for 50 cents. I don’t even bother with JudenWill because they price their used donations like they’re a fucking TJMaxx. I let the discounts I see at the grocery store decide what I’m having for dinner. I shop a couple hours before close because that’s when the department heads mark stuff down around here, half off ribeyes, half off ground beef, buy-one-get-one chicken breasts, etc.

cont

I would just like to thank OP for fostering a space of genuine discussion and positivity on this otherwise usually uncomfy board.

Check this shit out. This is nuts.

oldhousesunder100k.com/

cont

Anytime I notice I need something, I write it down on my whiteboard and trawl through Craigslist and Marketplace until it shows up, then I buy. (For example, I just picked up a full HOTAS stick/throttle/pedal setup on Marketplace for $80 the other day. The chick wanted $150, but when I met her, I could tell right away she was a junkie and probably stole it, as females don’t flightsim. So I talked her way down because I knew she just wanted to get high.) I could’ve been impulsive and dropped $249 at Best Buy for that same set brand new. I Doordash on my days off sometimes and make a quick $100. All of my hobbies are basically free or cost very little. If I want a new coffee table, bookshelf, nightstand, whatever, I’ll go buy the wood and stain at Menards and a tool (if I don’t already have it) at Harbor Freight, download a build PDF, and just make it myself. Now I’ve got hardwood furniture that won’t blister or crack like that pressed Walmart shit (plus I pick up a new skill), all for less than the cumulative lifetime cost of buying cheap crap over and over. I have library of 200+ volumes that cost me less than $50, comprised entirely of either cheap books at thrift stores, or free books that they have in a section at my local library when they are culled. I change my own oil, do my own brakes, etc etc. I'm not even a car guy but Youtube showed me how to do manifold gaskets once on an older vehicle I owned, I did it myself with a harbor freight socket set and saved hundreds in labor.

If I can’t get it cheap, and I can’t build it, then I don’t buy it.

I don’t want to sound cringe, but David Goggins’ book was a great motivator for me to get my act together, take that as you will. Instead of focusing on getting good at “saving money,” I recommend someone git gud at being disciplined in general. Learn the hard way to tell yourself “no,” and unironically, life gets easier.

tl;dr just stop being a bitch.

Sounds like you're doing well then, anon. Good job and I wish you all the best.

Thanks, anon. Positivity is good.

You can also apply for a ton of 0 apr credit cards and run them up. It will get you into debt but it beats being homeless

Debt is the last thing someone on a low income needs unless, as you wrote, it is the last resort before homelessness.

Learn to cook and bargain hunt. Buy stuff from second hand shops. Do not waste your money on activities that do not benefit you in the long-term.

I would assume almost all meals would be made at home out of necessity. At least in America it would be very hard (impossible?) to get by on $30,000 a year while eating out.

Interesting article about this exact scenario.

nerdwallet.com/article/investing/social-security/retire-on-30000-a-year

Thread was good but ive been pretty depressed as it stirred up memories of my mother.

You know you never spend anything if never leave bedroom from 15-20

I'm sorry, anon. It's going to be okay.

Lol thats great

how to live frugal

it's easy once you understand this:
you have to see living frugal as something that gives you extreme satisfaction at the thought that the more frugal you are, the less taxes will go to the jews

Buy lentils and rice in bulk.

I unironically do this. Lentils, spelt grains, chia seeds, hemp seeds, oats. I've been ordering them online but I may have found a local source.

at night, soak 100g of spelt berries and 50g of lentils with a dash of vinegar

next day, cook spelt berries for 30 min at 100°C

add lentils + herbs/seasoning to the pot and lit it cook for another 15 min

strain but save the liquid (flavour)

heat up stainless steel pan to high heat and add some ghee

put strained spelt/lentils in

Maillard the fuck out of these bitches

deglaze with the broth you saved

put on your plate and garnish it with 3 tbsp of hemp seeds

Sure, but you live with your parents so you have a huge advantage over someone on $30K with no non-governmental assistance. That's the difference.

Its nice here except for the cost of living is very high in relation to income. Rent in the capital is like any other big european city, which is absurd. Food prices are higher than in Italy, France or Germany and the income substantiality lower than in those countries..
Its very chill and diverse, from mountains to the sea in one hour drive, but with its small size experience is also limited and can be boring

you have to see living frugal as something that gives you extreme satisfaction at the thought that the more frugal you are, the less taxes will go to the jews

Are you living the frugal life? I understand what you're saying, though. Being happy with what you have and your lifestyle is important.

Being happy with what you have and your lifestyle is important.

especially this yeah
don't let yourself be brainwashed by societal pressure to own a bunch of stuff that ultimately is designed to enslave you

The things you own end up owning you

Are you living the frugal life?

yep
my road bike for instance. I bought the frame 15 years ago, and it was race bike from the 70's.
I fixed it up and maintained it really well over the years. Literally costs me hardly anything. Got a bike mechanic near me who is cut from the same cloth and strips old bikes for parts.
Bicycle fags and speedpedelecs with +10 000€ bikes seething when I overtake them at 40+ km/h on my old trusty steed.

Good for you, anon. Have you been able to save anything or is it pretty much paycheck to paycheck?

Maybe this would suit you
givesendgo.com/GGKEK

trap game in the forest and learn how to cook with plants and trees you find there. tree bark tea can taste as good as coffee.
dumpster dive for food, ingredients, shoes, clothes and things like building materials, plastic tarps for shelter etc.
hit sites like gofundme- either have a real thing you need funded or make something up if you just want cash
look for houses which are unoccupied, you can live in them for free depending on state law. often there is a way where you don't need to break in
good scavenge sites are where people are, so always be looking for free stuff left lying around

I eat one high calorie meal a day. 2 eggs, 4-6 slices of ham, a few pepperoni, cream cheese, honey, and mixed bulk cheese melted on the eggs. Wait to eat until before bed. You can find some good deals on bulk packages of ham or even bacon that is basically leftover at the store if you look around. Stimulants and tobacco are a treat, but also help with the hunger. Outside of rent I spend maybe 500 a month on food/tobacco. Don't waste money on alcohol, but drink it if offered and someone else is buying.

Do you own your home or pay rent? How much are you able to save if any?

forgot to mention the best part, I put these on bagels which are cooked in either butter or leftover bacon fat I save. I like to rotate between bacon and ham based on how much bacon grease I have to cook with. With the bulk bacon bags you end up with plenty of lard, no need to waste money on cooking oil (sneed oils). But olive oil and butter are nice for a treat. Balsamic vinegar goes far as well if you want some greens and veggies in your diet.

rent is a scam so find cool roommates
learn how to cook, holy shit 5lbs of potatoes is like 2.50USD
get a shit job that you can tolerate and when the boss starts demanding too much of you (3-6months), move onto the next one
get a hobby for fun and then turn it into a side hustle
reduce spending on your vices like weed, booze, tobacco
set aside like 10%~ of your income to savings and pretend that money is gone forever so you dont spend it. if you have more than like, 3k, invest it into the fake and gay stock market

I pay rent. Basically renting out a room and spend most of my time online. Never liked spending money on frivolous things when most everything I want is free and/or online.

The rice/bean idea is good for cost saving, and one should always have a big multi lb bag or two of each, but you won't feel very vital after consuming nothing but beans and rice for months on end. You definitely need saturated fats and meat, as well as eggs. Dried milk is thrifty as well, as are bulk vinegars. Don't waste money on premade sauce blends, you can make better tasting and healthier sauces with vinegars, sugar, tomato paste, onions sauce, and lemons. NHH

saving up for a living coop yeah
the idea is to
1. reduce costs
2. wage less
3. work for yourself more
The more you work for yourself (building your own dwelling, farming, barter, .. the less taxes you pay.

Right on. If you don't mind me asking (and if you do that's totally fine) how much money are you making a month and what do you pay for rent?

how much money are you making a month and what do you pay for rent?

I live in my mother's basement and I make as much as I want since I'm self employed. I just work when I feel like it

non-existent once you gut bacteria adjusts.

liver is gross as fuck but if you can eat it go for it, otherwise good advice swissbro
-fat americans under-estimate bulk vegetables so big packs of carrots, potatoes, onions, carrots are very cheap and can be used with a little bit of meat and some starch for tasty, filling, nutritious meals. learn to make big batches and freeze/store the rest
-a small amount of expensive stuff like cheese and spices go a long way.
-go watch youtube channels to learn the basics of cooking like binging with babish (if you can tolerate that guy) or foodwishes, + a dozen other channels.
-You only need a knife, a cutting mat, a pot a pan, a spatula, a baking dish.
-look for specials, look for by-one-get-ones, and dont buy things just because they are on sale.
-learn how to make stuff with flour and yeast, you can make bigass pizzas for like 5 bucks, 20~ tortillas for like 1 dollar.
-Pasta salads with fresh veggies and some vinegar oil are good batch meals. tuna/egg/pasta salad is good and cheap
-if you're really broke, try food banks like the nigger you are
-even some ultra processed foods are cheap like hotdogs, spreads, on sale grab and go items
my personal rule of thumb is if any ingredient costs more than like, 5 dollars a pound, reconsider getting it unless its for a very specific recipe. chicken thighs and drumsticks are quite cheep. pork sausage is quite cheap. ground beef and beef chuck is about the limit of what you want to pay.

I've been living perfectly fine off of only $3,600 a year, I would enjoy my free extra $26,400 I guess. That would make my gross income bump up into the six figure range.

Torrent everything that can be torrented and never pay for any services that you can get free from torrenting.
Learn how to cook rather than rely on the fast food Jew.
Stop impulsively consuming for the sake of it. Products will never fill the emptiness in your soul, you anticipate them in the hopes that they will, but as soon as you receive them, the emptiness will return.

Fuck off we're full

Based eggs and rice niggas represent. That's my go-to frugal staple, not the tastiest thing in the world but you can get by with it. I use a rice cooker and throw fried eggs on top, adding vegetables and spices like chili powder to make it a bit more balanced and palatable. Actually, it is perfectly possible to just cook all that shit together in a basic rice cooker. I'll throw the eggs and veggies on top of the rice and it turns out alright. Reduce the water you add accordingly.

bread is literal cancer all flour in America comes from wheat sprayed with glyphosate and is tainted

Live with your parents or in a van/camper. Eat white rice with olive oil for lunch and eggs for dinner. Find the cheapest gym in your area and go there to take showers (and train obviously). Don't buy clothes unless yours are literally falling apart. Don't eat at restaurants. Don't order doordash. Think about every thing you're about to buy: do you really need it or it will be jsut another thing that is fun for 2 minutes and then it will be trash?

We found a free place to live, like 4 bedrooms, no rent, just keep an eye on the place. How did I meet this boomer? I made eye contact and chatted for a bit at a hardware store.

The gift of gab is a perennially underrated life hack. Just being comfortable enough in your own skin to talk to strangers and make contacts is becoming a lost art in a society consisting primarily of hyper-online normies and borderline shut-in agoraphobes.

How the fuck are you able to survive on $3,600 a year? Are you living with your parents I guess?

All good points.

Babish is too much of a cuck for me, but I'd recommend Chef Jean-Pierre. Lots of his videos are for complicated dishes but he has loads of unpretentious ones, he has a video for nearly any dish you can think of and actually shows the whole process. He does a great job explaining the fundamentals, too. Brian Lagerstrom also does a good job, his sourdough video in particular is great.