How much money a year do you need to live?

[Rahul]

*sighs* Paying for AC in a 5 bedroom house in Texas is pretty expensive. I make good money but between the mortgage, bills, kids, etc, I'm just doing ok. I work to pay the bills.

Oh, and for the really good health insurance that covers my entire family.

Oh, and the beer. Can't forget the beer.

Back before I met my wife I was sitting fat. My rent + bills was maybe $500 a month and I was bringing in $2500 a month and had full health coverage.

I make a lot more now but I wish I only had to pay $500 a month for my mortgage and bills now. Shit $1000 a month would be freaking amazing.

[CapnAwesome]

If I wanted to live in the wilderness off the land, yeah, I could get by on little or nothing. I see a lot of people living under bridges and such, I'm sure they get by on little as well.

It's kind of insane that you think the two options are paying crazy amounts for rent (and crap) or living under an overpass. I live in my girlfriend's Van and am one of the happier people on these forums. Probably because I keep my expenses so low I only have to work a couple of months out of the year and then travel full time the rest of the year. Traveling with lots of money is not really traveling, it's just experiencing your own culture with different scenery.

[Dragonetti]

Cost of Living effects the amount of money you need to live there. Cost of living in Washington DC is crazy, where as cost of living in Alabama is not too bad.

Here is a cool website for those in USA. http://www.bestplaces.net/cost-of-living/

This will allow you to compare two cities.

[Minimalist]

I'm living perfectly fine on my salary, but that's only because of how I live. It's just me and my girlfriend who only recently moved in with me, which is good because I'm not making enough to be able to take care of kids or send them to college. But I'm living very comfortably.

I make about $3,500 a month (that's an average, it's never an exact number), but I live in a rather expensive area. My house and my immediate neighborhood aren't anything special, but the taxes are extraordinarily high. Especially school taxes. But I like kids learning, I went to the public schools here, and they're the best on Long Island, so I don't complain. I could probably live off of $2,700 a month, minimum.

I left LI to come here. One fucking snow storm too many, man.

[Gilgamesh]

Traveling with lots of money is not really traveling, it's just experiencing your own culture with different scenery.

That's the coolest line I've ever heard.

[NoraBrimstone]

I just worked out that if I cancelled all my charity direct debits, my health insurance, and the other luxuries I don't really need, and reduced my food budget to £100 a month... I could live on about £960 ($1,476USD) per month or £11,520 ($17,720USD) per year after tax. In London. But only because i have a council flat. If I rentred privately, I would need more than twice that amount.

[Rahul]

I live in my girlfriend's Van and am one of the happier people on these forums.

[rexbeccarox]

If I wanted to live in the wilderness off the land, yeah, I could get by on little or nothing. I see a lot of people living under bridges and such, I'm sure they get by on little as well.

It's kind of insane that you think the two options are paying crazy amounts for rent (and crap) or living under an overpass. I live in my girlfriend's Van and am one of the happier people on these forums. Probably because I keep my expenses so low I only have to work a couple of months out of the year and then travel full time the rest of the year. Traveling with lots of money is not really traveling, it's just experiencing your own culture with different scenery.

You know, I usually really like your posts, but this comes off as extremely arrogant. First of all, how do you know you're one of the happier people on the forums? Also, yeah, you're keeping your expenses low by living in a van, but how are your savings? What happens if you get sick? Also, yes, if you want to travel to certain places it does take a lot of money. Even if I just want to visit my mom, stay at her house, and eat her food, it's gonna cost me time and gas, or a $400 round-trip ticket, and that's on the cheap side. How often do you get to go to Australia or Thailand or... I don't know... Austria?

[CleanShavenJesus]

I'm living perfectly fine on my salary, but that's only because of how I live. It's just me and my girlfriend who only recently moved in with me, which is good because I'm not making enough to be able to take care of kids or send them to college. But I'm living very comfortably.

I make about $3,500 a month (that's an average, it's never an exact number), but I live in a rather expensive area. My house and my immediate neighborhood aren't anything special, but the taxes are extraordinarily high. Especially school taxes. But I like kids learning, I went to the public schools here, and they're the best on Long Island, so I don't complain. I could probably live off of $2,700 a month, minimum.

I left LI to come here. One fucking snow storm too many, man.

You know, the past few winters have had very little snow.

But Sandy didn't let anyone celebrate for very long...

[Jackalope]

If I wanted to live in the wilderness off the land, yeah, I could get by on little or nothing. I see a lot of people living under bridges and such, I'm sure they get by on little as well.

It's kind of insane that you think the two options are paying crazy amounts for rent (and crap) or living under an overpass. I live in my girlfriend's Van and am one of the happier people on these forums. Probably because I keep my expenses so low I only have to work a couple of months out of the year and then travel full time the rest of the year. Traveling with lots of money is not really traveling, it's just experiencing your own culture with different scenery.

Perhaps you misunderstood what I was saying. I wasn't attempting to bifurcate the issue and paint it in terms of living under an overpass vs. paying high rent. I was merely presenting an extreme end of the spectrum of what one *could* do if one *chose* to.

I *chose* not to.

As I have a child to support (not to mention an ex-wife), it's pretty much a necessity that I maintain stable, gainful employment - which means I don't get to live in a van down by the river - even if I wanted to (which I don't) - because I have responsibilities that mean something to me.

Your lifestyle works for you, and that's cool. Were I younger, with fewer responsibilities, I might find it appealing as well.