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>So, in other words, it's not enough to meet GPs threshold of not work for anybody and support a family of four. I have a co-worker that supports a family of f
by ryanmercer 8y ago
>So, in other words, it's not enough to meet GPs threshold of not work for anybody and support a family of four.
I have a co-worker that supports a family of four, with a mortgage, on not much more than I make.
Do they take fancy vacations? No.
Do they drive new cars? No, in fact they have 1 car.
Do they eat out, buy convenience foods, buy fast food? No, they make their meals and enjoy them together.
Do they have the latest gaming consoles? No but his kids are both teens and are still happy with 2-3 generation old consoles.
Do they wear new clothes? No, most of their clothing comes from second hand stores, often barely warn.
You don't have to spend gobs of money to have a family. Loo at any number of Christian denominations and you'll find people living quite happily with not a lot of money going out, if you want to really see it look at many families that are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints (colloquially known as Mormons) and you'll see families larger than 4 that do are quite healthy and happy, in the US, on household incomes well under 6-figures.
Simply buying food in bulk, buying used cars and buying clothing on sale and/or second hand (and passing it down when it comes to children) stretches money considerably:
- 50lbs of rice $17.98 29,550 kcals
- 25lbs steelcut oats $32.98 42,500 kcals
- 15lbs potatoes $6.98 5,205 kcals
- 5lb bag instant mashed potatoes $6.98 9,600 kcals
- 25lbs flour $6.98 41,275 kcals
And for meat, if you buy as little as 1/4 of a cow at a time you get rather steep savings. A quarter beef is anywhere from 80-100lbs of meat (a lot of steak but mostly roast, chuck roast, 3-5lbs of short ribs and the bulk being ground beef) for 6-8$ a pound. Buy a whole beef and you're talking 350lbs~ of butchered weight at 8-9$ a pound.
- mywittyname 8y agoLiving costs drop dramatically when you don't need to work. The costs of transportation and time-saving meals is pretty incredible. Ignoring depreciation and interest, even a Civic costs thousands in gas, maintenance, and insurance to run 40 miles daily. Side note: the prices on your bulk beef sound pretty high. My local grocery has ground beef at $3.29/lb, $9/lb is almost what they charge for t-bone steaks. For cheap meat, I stick to whole chickens at <$1/lb or pork when it's BOGO.
- ryanmercer 8y ago>Side note: the prices on your bulk beef sound pretty high. I'm talking about buying 1/4 or 1 whole specific cow directly from a farm that gets butchered and wrapped for you, it's actually quite cheaper than the grocery. The average cost per pound is absolutely higher for ground beef because you're getting a LOT of steak and ribs. For 1/4 beef you're talking like 50ish pounds of ground beef, like 20lbs of various roasts, 40ish pounds of steaks and probably some ribs. Yeah, you can get ground beef or ground chuck stupid cheap at the grocery, especially if you're buying the big rolls of it. 2-5$ depending on the quantity and fat content, but buy a 1/4 , 1/2 or whole beef gets you a ton of steak, roasts, ribs.
- tokyodude 8y agoand so you're saying if they had 1 million dollars you would consider them financially "rich"? The article is about the motivations of rich people. it doesn't sound like the lifestyle you're describing is a financially "rich" lifestyle. It sounds like an "I could get by if I pinched pennies" lifestyle. One for which it would be obvious why they'd want more money.
- ryanmercer 8y ago>and so you're saying if they had 1 million dollars you would consider them financially "rich"? To most of the country 1 million dollars makes you quite rich. Again, median HOUSEHOLD income is 59k. Federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, that means 66.31 years of gross wages for a minimum wage worker.
- tokyodude 8y agoliving 66 years on a minimum wage is not rich. you seem to have a very different definition of rich from most people. having $60k a year for 16 years is also not rich. do you consider someone making medium income rich?