4 ms·

Renowned indie games developer Jason Rohrer raised his family for several years on a budget of $10,000 per year. It's possible to live on very little if a) you'

Renowned indie games developer Jason Rohrer raised his family for several years on a budget of $10,000 per year. It's possible to live on very little if a) you're prepared to move to somewhere cheap and b) you're prepared to examine your definition of the word "essential". Possible, but not necessarily pleasant. http://hcsoftware.sourceforge.net/jason-rohrer/simpleLife.html http://hcsoftware.sourceforge.net/jason-rohrer/simpleLife.ht...

ComradeTaco 9y ago
Doable as long as nobody gets sick and requires the attention of a doctor.
- humanrebar 9y ago
  And as long as you don't plan on retiring, paying for college, leaving town to survive a hurricane, etc. "Living on" 10k typically doesn't include responsible levels of savings.
  - mgiannopoulos 9y ago
    So being poor is not responsible?
    - humanrebar 9y ago
      Most of my family living in or near poverty aren't saving responsibly, no. Most because they don't have a choice, but I wouldn't call it a sustainable or exemplary lifestyle.
  - pc86 9y ago
    You don't think it's possible "living on" refers to day-to-day expenses and retirement/emergency savings are in addition to that?
    - astura 9y ago
      Yes, that's how I always understood it. Living on $10k doesn't have to mean only having income of $10k. I personally say "we live on $50k" but our income is more than 3x that.
      - pc86 9y ago
        Currently in the process of cutting our "living on" budget from 110% of our yearly income to 50% or less. It is a painful process for sure.
        astura 9y ago
        Good luck! I really wish you the very best. It might be easier to start with a goal of maybe 80% first before moving to 50%? Seems overly ambitious to start with.
        pc86 9y ago
        Yeah just one bill at a time at the moment, 50% is the ultimate goal.
        praneshp 9y ago
        When I did this, I used Mint (https://www.mint.com/ https://www.mint.com/) initially, and then moved to YNAB (https://www.youneedabudget.com/ https://www.youneedabudget.com/) that has been awesome.
- hobo_mark 9y ago
  Or as long as you live in a country that considers health care as important as infrastructure and defense.
astura 9y ago
>you're prepared to examine your definition of the word "essential". This is the real, real big issue. We are surrounded by our peers spending money and ads that tell us to spend more. It makes us lose touch with what's a need vs a want and what sort of spending would actually improve our lives. It's going to be different for everyone, of course, we aren't the same, we all have different priorities in life. I remember reading a Reddit post where someone thought a stay at home mom selling her (financed) car was totally ridiculous because the kids might have a doctor's appointment one day. This was an upvoted post. This was a second car and the family was in very siginficant debt. Sure, a second car is very nice but not anywhere near a "need" for a stay at home parent. Like, uh, if she needs the car one day she can jut drive her husband to work and pick him up again. Personally, my family can certainly afford a second car, but we have one car because a second car would costs thousands of dollars and it's just not worth thousands of dollars to us just to avoid the inconvenience of dropping my husband off at his work on my way to my work and picking him up again. That money is better spent on things that give us more joy then avoiding spending more time in the car together. Every dollar spent requires trade-offs. Having a spouse that agrees with you in the realm of personal finance and life goals is incredibly important. I don't think a marriage could last without having the same financial/life goals. Not without a large amount of resentment anyways.

ComradeTaco 9y ago

Doable as long as nobody gets sick and requires the attention of a doctor.

humanrebar 9y ago
And as long as you don't plan on retiring, paying for college, leaving town to survive a hurricane, etc. "Living on" 10k typically doesn't include responsible levels of savings.
- mgiannopoulos 9y ago
  So being poor is not responsible?
  - humanrebar 9y ago
    Most of my family living in or near poverty aren't saving responsibly, no. Most because they don't have a choice, but I wouldn't call it a sustainable or exemplary lifestyle.
- pc86 9y ago
  You don't think it's possible "living on" refers to day-to-day expenses and retirement/emergency savings are in addition to that?
  - astura 9y ago
    Yes, that's how I always understood it. Living on $10k doesn't have to mean only having income of $10k. I personally say "we live on $50k" but our income is more than 3x that.
    - pc86 9y ago
      Currently in the process of cutting our "living on" budget from 110% of our yearly income to 50% or less. It is a painful process for sure.
      - astura 9y ago
        Good luck! I really wish you the very best. It might be easier to start with a goal of maybe 80% first before moving to 50%? Seems overly ambitious to start with.
        pc86 9y ago
        Yeah just one bill at a time at the moment, 50% is the ultimate goal.
      - praneshp 9y ago
        When I did this, I used Mint (https://www.mint.com/ https://www.mint.com/) initially, and then moved to YNAB (https://www.youneedabudget.com/ https://www.youneedabudget.com/) that has been awesome.
hobo_mark 9y ago
Or as long as you live in a country that considers health care as important as infrastructure and defense.

astura 9y ago

>you're prepared to examine your definition of the word "essential". This is the real, real big issue. We are surrounded by our peers spending money and ads that tell us to spend more. It makes us lose touch with what's a need vs a want and what sort of spending would actually improve our lives. It's going to be different for everyone, of course, we aren't the same, we all have different priorities in life. I remember reading a Reddit post where someone thought a stay at home mom selling her (financed) car was totally ridiculous because the kids might have a doctor's appointment one day. This was an upvoted post. This was a second car and the family was in very siginficant debt. Sure, a second car is very nice but not anywhere near a "need" for a stay at home parent. Like, uh, if she needs the car one day she can jut drive her husband to work and pick him up again. Personally, my family can certainly afford a second car, but we have one car because a second car would costs thousands of dollars and it's just not worth thousands of dollars to us just to avoid the inconvenience of dropping my husband off at his work on my way to my work and picking him up again. That money is better spent on things that give us more joy then avoiding spending more time in the car together. Every dollar spent requires trade-offs. Having a spouse that agrees with you in the realm of personal finance and life goals is incredibly important. I don't think a marriage could last without having the same financial/life goals. Not without a large amount of resentment anyways.