Can one live on minimum wage?

**KTP** · 08-27-2009, 07:49 AM

Radiance, in another thread you were mentioning that you could pay $2200 toward your mortgage but that would not be quite enough.

Now you are talking about making minimum wage??? Did you lose your job recently? Getting a bit worried about you and your kid.

You might want to look into moving to another area with a bit higher paying jobs. I wonder if Las Vegas might be a decent choice. The climate is about as warm as florida, and any job in a casino is going to pay quite a bit more than minimum wage. Eventually you could train to become a dealer and make $15 to $20 an hour. Just a thought.

The housing market there has been hit so hard I bet you could find dirt cheap rents too.

**Joan.of.the.Arch** · 08-27-2009, 08:18 AM

I'm hoping Radiance is just looking at nearly the worst case scenario she can think of in her life. I think everybody ought to do that.

I don't think deductions would add up to 30%, so maybe it would not be quite as bleak as you are thinking. But I don't think there is anyway to swing it unless you have someone to take care for the baby for free.

**Radiance** · 08-27-2009, 08:56 AM

Sorry KTP!!, Joan is right, I am just running scenarios. Very sweet of you for worrying.

I am really getting into simplicity, frugality and the concept of "buying time".

There are people out there living on less than minumum wage in exchange for free time.

I am jumping into the far future and playing with scenarios.

Plan:
1) Short Sale house
2) Rent a 900 1 bdr or a 1200 2bdr with roommate
3) With the housing savings from point above, execute 12 month plan to eliminate debt (car, credit cards and personal loan). (currently at $19000)
4) During that year, redesign my life and evaluate priorities. With all the reducted expenses, I could live with half my current salary by then. So maybe I can switch to part time and "buy time" with my son and time for me. This is what I am playing with...I have several questions but I am making them individual posts so everybody can benefit from the answers.

I make 40/hr right now, so, I could live on a part time if I was debt and mortgage free.... Crazy thought! I could get me some 6 months contracts and work 6-8 months of the year!

But back to original subject, Worse come to worse, I can not live on minimum wage (since I dont have access to free daycare or babysitting). So I am calculating what is the minimum I need. Not only to know what is the minimum type of job, but also, the minimum surviving amount to build a 6 months EF.

800, I need additional 650 for daycare, so it seems I could survive on 1450/month. 1500 (rounded up) x 6 months = 9000.

Worse comes to worse I need a job with a 1500 take home amount (I think that is a 12/hr job) and I need to collect 9000 for a 6 months minimum expenses fund.

It would also be interesting to see how much are my current unemployment benefits should I need to tap into that.

**fruitbowlk** · 08-27-2009, 10:11 AM

Use coupons for food.

Look on craigslist for an afforadble flexible babysitter.

**spock0149** · 08-31-2009, 06:49 PM

Min wage...did you ever see the Morgan Spurlock show 30 days? He did the SuperSize me documentary where he at nothing but Macdonalds for a month.

In his show, 30 days, he does other such social experiments. Ep 1, Seasons 1 is his effort to live on Minimum wage for a month. You should check it out, its very eye-opening.

**Joan.of.the.Arch** · 09-01-2009, 07:24 AM

A single person living open minimum wage for 30 days is NOTHING compared to a single parent living on minimum wage for the forseeable future.

**buildmybudget** · 09-01-2009, 06:56 PM

Any chance of finding a job that offers free daycare or a position where you would have your child with you at work...like baby daycare or something?

**tripods68** · 09-02-2009, 06:31 AM

I would definitely factor in medical insurance coverages for you and your baby if you haven't cover that....or have you?

**Goldy1** · 09-19-2009, 09:36 PM

Funny thing is I have run worse case scenarios in my mind also, and while being debt and almost mortgage free, it is amazing how much the other bills are such as heat and taxes etc. Also evenaully my home will need things ie dryer brakes or I need to spend on dental care etc.

**gemologist** · 09-22-2009, 09:28 AM

The short answer is YES, you can live on minium wage in the US,
But not everywhere.
You are going to have to look towards cities like fort worth and indianopolis.

You need the trifecta of cheap housing, cheap foods, and cheap power.

My wife and I combined make about minimum wage between the both of us.

Here is how our expenses break down.

(fort worth)
$350/month mortgage and insurance (will be getting back when we sell the house with interest)
$50 security system
$500-$660/ food
$109 (average) electricitry
$40 water/trash/sewer
$35 dish tv
$50 electronics
$30 clothing
$50 pocket cash
$60 gas
$400 ammortization on 2 vehicles and maintanance
$200 ebay items
appx: $2050

2 people @ 50 hours per week = appx $2500 after taxes and tax credits

We take the remainder and put it all into product for my business to grow it so it makes more money later.

The great thing about minimum wage is you pretty much get to keep all of it, and uncle sam acts as an interest-free saving account, you get money back at the beginning of the year and generally get to file free.

Anyone can do it, but the thing is, you gotta take the overtime, you can't have steak every night, you HAVE to shop bargains, know prices on just about everything, be handy with fixing things and have a will to make it work.

**Joan.of.the.Arch** · 09-22-2009, 10:50 AM

Gemologist, that sounds like a lot more than minimum wage, if I am understanding you. You say you bring in $2500 a month, working 200 hours per month? That would be $12.50 per hour. By the way, it is more profitable to put your savings in an interest paying account than to let the federal government hold it for you, interest free. And what do you mean by "file free"? There is no charge to file your taxes.

Is that each of you working 50 hours per week? So $6.25 per hour?

**wincrasher** · 09-23-2009, 03:56 AM

Generally people at minimum wage are lucky to even get a 40 hr week - many are kept at 35 hrs or less to avoid giving them benefits.

I think alot of them would happily wrestle you to the ground to consistently get 50 hrs per week (10 hours @ overtime rate).

Radiance, your better scenario is working at your regular rate, but fewer hours. You may opt to find your new apt near the the cheapest daycare provider instead of it's proximity to your job - maybe re-sort your search on that criteria.

**Radiance** · 09-23-2009, 07:54 AM

I think I am sticking to the neiborhood right next to my son's current preschool. I love the place, the teachers, the environment. That peace of mind can not be bought. It has a good medium price at 156 per week for the area, open door policy and my son is happy, very well taken care of, they communicate everything. Never a diaper rash, very healthy considering he is attending preschool. No complaints. In would need to keep my current commute but I would not need to drive with a potentially cranky baby on the car for more than 5 min.

About the job, yes I should keep the rate and work my hours down, under 32/week I loose my benefits so I need to allocate money for health insurance for me. My son can be under his dad's. I also need to allocate for retirement fund.

In the big scheme I may also look for a cheaper city all together, one with lower costs but comparable salaries such as Columbus, OH or Charlotte, NC.

In any case, going back to the subject of my post, I've discover that I really don't need much, not even close to what I was spending before. It is comforting, really.

**LuxLiving** · 09-30-2009, 03:44 PM

Go back thru lrjohnson's blog posts and do a search for her posts here in the forums. You'll be surprised!

Viewing the 'Minimum Wage Challenge' Category: LRJohnson Saves
LR Johnson's Minimum Wage Challenge Blog

Can one live on minimum wage?