We live well on under $1000 in income per month. We live fairly well although rather simply. As I write this, I know there are going to be people who don’t believe it’s possible. There will be others whose mortgage payments will be more than we make. Still there will also be those who will be nodding because they could also live well on our income.
The first secret to living on a small income is not to have a huge mortgage or rent payment or to have a small one. While we have 17 acres here, Randy chose to remodel his small family home rather than build a new large home. The result of this is a small mortgage rather than a large one. Our mortgage payment is less than $200 per month.
The second secret to living well on less is to separate wants from needs. There are tons of things that we wouldn’t mind having, there are some things we want and then there are a few things that we need. There are the obvious things such as food, heat, gas for the car and clothes that are a need. After living this way for awhile, it becomes easier to separate the things we want from the things we need. The things that are on our want list right now are pretty close to needs such as a replacement door handle for my car. It broke about a month ago and I have every intention of replacing it but I am waiting for our money to be right so I don’t have to charge it or risk not having money to pay for the things we absolutely need. In the meantime, it’s an inconvenience.
The third secret is to have no debt. We don’t borrow money, we make do with what we have. We don’t use credit cards, we don’t have a car loan. Of course, this means that we don’t have brand new cars. My little 1993 Geo Metro makes do as our main mode of transportation. Would we like to have a newer car? Sure but it’s not something that I am willing to go into debt to have.
Have an emergency fund! When you are living on low income, the small things can be an emergency. We manage to keep a $500 emergency fund most of the time. We also use this fund to pay our monthly bills if our income dips for a month or if we have repairs, etc. If we use it, I make it a priority to build it back up again so that we have that cushion if we need it.
Keep a budget! We pretty much know how much money we need to have come in and how much money we will spend in a month. We buy, sell and train horses as a living and as you can imagine, in this economy, income can be a little dicey. We keep our needed income in mind and work a little harder to make it some months.
Stock up! When we go grocery shopping, we look for deals. When there is a good sale, we stock up. If chickens are .99 a pound, we might buy 5 or 6 of them. If vegetables are on sale, we buy as much as we can afford and have room to store. When money is funny, we eat out of the freezer. Right now, I bet we could eat well for a month without having to buy more than milk and eggs.
We also save money by bartering services. We can often provide a service in return for something we want or need or someone will want to trade something in partial payment for one of our horses. This works out well for us as we often have more time than money. We recently hauled a horse for someone and they will use their tractor to plow our garden.
Do it yourself! This covers so many things. If something breaks, we repair it ourselves if we can. We mow our own grass, cut our own wood, do small repairs on our cars and grow our own vegetables. We make whatever repairs that we can so that we don’t have to pay labor. We cook from scratch and use very little packaged pre-prepared foods.
Do we live large? No, not if you mean driving a late model car, having a big house or wearing the latest fashions. Do we live well? Yes. We have everything we need and some of the things we want. We eat well, go out to dinner once a week with friends, and we enjoy the things we do have.
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Tags: frugal living
So nice to finally see someone else (besides me)say that one CAN live comfortable on under $1000/month
It’s a totally different way of life than most are used to or can understand – but it is so simple that it works. The most important is the little or no debt, and separating the wants and needs, and mainly the doing it yourself! It’s rewarding and gives one a sense of self-accomplishment! Thanks for the uplifting article!
Everything you said is so true, yet so many of us find it difficult to apply it in our own lives
Another great post! The biggie in my mind is seperating out needs and wants. Then looking at the needs and seeing what you can do yourself or on a barter/swap before having to haul out a checkbook! I personally struggle with the needs and wants list and sometimes the wants creep in.
Oh I do believe you that it is possible. I also think it is easier to do it when you don’t have kids. Because sometimes you just have to get your kid something to keep him happy, etc.