4 ms·

Certainly in a place like Boise, ID. That's $800/month, $704 after tax. Rent with roommates will run around $300/month. Food is $150/month ($5/day). That leaves

Certainly in a place like Boise, ID. That's $800/month, $704 after tax. Rent with roommates will run around $300/month. Food is $150/month ($5/day). That leaves $250/month for misc expenditures. It would absolutely be tight, but people can and do live on that much.

lghh 9y ago
Hope you never get sick and have to call in, your car never breaks down, and you never have a medical emergency!
- mythrwy 9y ago
  If you get seriously sick 3X (5 time even) that amount won't save you. But as things stand now you'd have free(ish) healthcare anyway. Car? What car? You are walking, biking, riding the bus. It's doable, barely, just barely and there will be troubles if anything comes up.
  - rbanffy 9y ago
    Would that qualify as life or merely survival? Can a person under these conditions become a parent? Can someone in this situation raise a healthy kid? I doubt it.
    - mythrwy 9y ago
      No, you can't have a kid on this money. Nor is it a very good life in terms of material possessions. You probably can't afford a horse either. But none of those things were specified in OP's post.
      - rbanffy 9y ago
        That's more or less what it meant - a meaningful, healthy life, above merely survival. I would know - I'm the OP.
        mythrwy 9y ago
        Ah yes, indeed you are. I had to go further up the tree it appears. I don't disagree. Not a good life. People live on a buck here and there and change they find in vending machines as far as a "living" goes. Technically they are "alive" but it can't be nice way to live. Kind of makes one wonder exactly what level of "living" is acceptable. I suppose preferences vary.
knightofmars 9y ago
What if you have a family?
- icebraining 9y ago
  Hopefully you have a second wage earner in it.
- bluGill 9y ago
  Food goes up a little bit, and your room is more crowded. Everything else is the same. Go look at the size of a log cabin, they were about the size of a single bedroom today and large families lived in them.
  - gknoy 9y ago
    > [if you have a family] Food goes up a little bit, and your room is more crowded. Everything else is the same. The amount of money and extra time that we spent on just one baby was astounding - clothes, doctor visits, food. Many more trips to the store/pharmacy/doctor, etc, than normal. The USDA's child cost estimator [0] says that raising a child in the midwest costs about an extra $12000 a year, on average. Not all of that breakdown may apply, but even if you were to ONLY look at food costs, an extra $1500/year in food (when you're only making the hypothetical $800/month discussed in the GP) is not "a little". 0: https://www.cnpp.usda.gov/tools/crc_calculator/ https://www.cnpp.usda.gov/tools/crc_calculator/
    - bluGill 9y ago
      My wife is great at scrounging: kids didn't add much to my costs unless we are eating out. You can get last years styles all over for cheap. My kids can have a few stains - they will be putting their own on anyway.
- phamilton 9y ago
  It raises some interesting questions. Should every job pay a sufficient wage to raise a family? How big of a family? Should we require employers to pay a teenager as much as someone supporting a family of 8?

lghh 9y ago

Hope you never get sick and have to call in, your car never breaks down, and you never have a medical emergency!

mythrwy 9y ago
If you get seriously sick 3X (5 time even) that amount won't save you. But as things stand now you'd have free(ish) healthcare anyway. Car? What car? You are walking, biking, riding the bus. It's doable, barely, just barely and there will be troubles if anything comes up.
- rbanffy 9y ago
  Would that qualify as life or merely survival? Can a person under these conditions become a parent? Can someone in this situation raise a healthy kid? I doubt it.
  - mythrwy 9y ago
    No, you can't have a kid on this money. Nor is it a very good life in terms of material possessions. You probably can't afford a horse either. But none of those things were specified in OP's post.
    - rbanffy 9y ago
      That's more or less what it meant - a meaningful, healthy life, above merely survival. I would know - I'm the OP.
      - mythrwy 9y ago
        Ah yes, indeed you are. I had to go further up the tree it appears. I don't disagree. Not a good life. People live on a buck here and there and change they find in vending machines as far as a "living" goes. Technically they are "alive" but it can't be nice way to live. Kind of makes one wonder exactly what level of "living" is acceptable. I suppose preferences vary.

knightofmars 9y ago

What if you have a family?

icebraining 9y ago
Hopefully you have a second wage earner in it.
bluGill 9y ago
Food goes up a little bit, and your room is more crowded. Everything else is the same. Go look at the size of a log cabin, they were about the size of a single bedroom today and large families lived in them.
- gknoy 9y ago
  > [if you have a family] Food goes up a little bit, and your room is more crowded. Everything else is the same. The amount of money and extra time that we spent on just one baby was astounding - clothes, doctor visits, food. Many more trips to the store/pharmacy/doctor, etc, than normal. The USDA's child cost estimator [0] says that raising a child in the midwest costs about an extra $12000 a year, on average. Not all of that breakdown may apply, but even if you were to ONLY look at food costs, an extra $1500/year in food (when you're only making the hypothetical $800/month discussed in the GP) is not "a little". 0: https://www.cnpp.usda.gov/tools/crc_calculator/ https://www.cnpp.usda.gov/tools/crc_calculator/
  - bluGill 9y ago
    My wife is great at scrounging: kids didn't add much to my costs unless we are eating out. You can get last years styles all over for cheap. My kids can have a few stains - they will be putting their own on anyway.
phamilton 9y ago
It raises some interesting questions. Should every job pay a sufficient wage to raise a family? How big of a family? Should we require employers to pay a teenager as much as someone supporting a family of 8?