It’s funny people are so anti-consumerist then downvote comments like this… hypocrites
Comment on Survey: More Than 1 In 4 Americans Feel They Need To Make $150,000 Or More To Live Comfortably
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 9 months ago
When I was single I was comfortable with £11k which is adjusted for inflation from 2016. Maybe some of you are miserable because you think you need expensive things to be happy.
Zenith@lemm.ee 9 months ago
RadioFreeArabia@lemmy.world 9 months ago
When I lived in the US my biggest expenses were housing, healthcare and taxes. None of them were things I could reduce.
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 9 months ago
Only housing here as I live in the UK, healthcare is free. Tax exists but I earnt so little at the time I barely paid any.
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 9 months ago
Would love some proper anti-consumerism
gadfly1999@lemm.ee 9 months ago
There are a few expensive things I find necessary in the modern world. Those being food and a roof over my head. If you have suggestions for going without either of those, I’m all ears. Otherwise, fuck off with that nonsense.
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 9 months ago
Sure rent/mortgages are expensive, but not 150k expensive. Food costs fuck all in comparison to rent it may as well be a rounding error.
weirdbeardgame@lemmy.world 9 months ago
Clearly you haven’t lived in any state that isn’t in fuck all Wyoming.
Shits expensive as hell
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 9 months ago
My use of £ might be a hint to where I live. Housing costs like 20x the amount I spend on food.
TeddE@lemmy.world 9 months ago
Or maybe you lived in an environment where some of those expenses were socialized via a broad social net - or you have connections via friends and family that you’ve underestimated the value of (a friend with a truck is cheaper to buy lunch for than renting movers). If I had reliable access to food shelter transportation and information at negligible costs (assuming ~$800/month constitutes low cost rent), I can totally imagine living within a budget of $15k/year (covering pounds to USD).
However, I used to live in Phoenix but moved due to the rental crisis. Simple clean 1 bedroom apartments are going for $1600/month, which blows your budget in rent alone. (The lowest rate I could find was $750/month, but you had to be officially poor (“restricted income”) to qualify).
But before I condemn you in assumptions, maybe I’m wrong - would you be willing to break down your living expenses for those who would follow in your path?
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 9 months ago
Didn’t even have friends when I moved, got a bedroom in a shared house. £425 and today with inflation you can find similar for £500-600 a month across most of the UK outside of cities anyway. That is bills included.
So the only essential spending left really is food. Currently that costs me about £60/month from Aldi but I am earning more now. If I had to cut back I don’t know exactly how much I could reduce it to. £30-50 would be pretty easy to cut back to by cutting out meat and cheese while £10 would be high carb poverty food and possibly scurvy.
The rest I saved or spent on fun things. Life was pretty good as I made friends with some of the other guys living there. Moving house I did with a bag and a few bin liners, I barely owned anything in the first place so I just carried stuff and took a train.
TeddE@lemmy.world 9 months ago
All said, respectable - “live with almost no property at the cheapest rate available” is not terribly bad advice. But again, I think even following that advise would be a higher cost for lots of people in many places in the world.
But is that really the world we want to build? “Okay everyone, aim for the bare minimum?” I know I’ve been lucky in my life and haven’t had to struggle often - but I don’t think it’s unfair to assume that everyone should be able to enjoy luxuries from time to time.
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 9 months ago
Nothing wrong with aiming for more but if you think you need 150k to be comfortable I think it says more about you.