How to Live Happily on 75 Percent Less

i don't care if you live in the lowest cost of living community in the United States, there is absolutely no way that you could live on $6k/year unless you considered a shopping cart home sweet home and never, not once in your life, needed to see a doctor. i suppose if you were "homeless" and when needing medical care you relied on the good 'ol emergency room, ate out of church feeding stations, etc .... you might be able to make that claim. however, under any plausible circumstances the only way you can make that claim is if you are relying on subsidies, charities and other assistance. to be clear, there are a lot of poor people in the U.S., and life for the poor is a real struggle and i think those in need should take advantage of anything and everything that can help their situation. but if you want to to make a claim on how little income you live on, you should qualify it by saying "i live on a take home, cash income of $___ year, and then list the assistance you get, be it from governmental entities, family and friends or private charity. if you take into account all of these items you would get the true cost of living and i guarantee that there are no people who are living at a true level of subsistence of $6k/year in the U.S. who are not literally living on the street or in the process of starving themselves to death. one of the biggest problems conservatives have when they speak about "personal responsibility" and "ending handouts" and reducing government spending, which to make meaningful dent in spending will REQUIRE large cuts in social security and medicare/medicade is that the costs associated with the poor will always be there, it is simply a case that the uber-weatthy think that the fairest way to pay for the costs of living in a civil society is for the non-wealthy to pay for it. just wait. history has shown that when the rich screw over the poor long enough and hard enough .... the poor rise up and kill the rich. it will happen again. with some amount of luck perhaps the children of the rich will be spared, but as for the parents ... they will find life with ones head separated from the neck is short and unpleasant.

lookingforwardtokilling thekochfamily of CA 3:22AM February 12, 2011

Living out in the High Plains of Eastern New Mexico for a few years now (Portales- a low cost university town), I am continuously amazed at how many locals have zero debt, paid off homes, nice paid off trucks, and pay cash for medical care, furniture, vacations, etc. because they farm their own food on their own land and simply do not fall prey to the style ofthe minute.

Some people out here farm a few dozen or hunderd acres of veggies and animals and have a great, secure supply of organic food (see ya' Wallymart!) and you can see they are in shape and confident. Some are grand kids of the 1930s "dust bowl" farmers and many are "overall millionaires" and you would never know it by the modest home, clothing etc. It IS a way to live. And we have wind and solar power.

Goodson of NM 6:40PM October 27, 2010

Excuse me, $1900 per month is $11 per hour. That's what most jobs pay in other parts of the country. So, move! Locaton, location, location! You can live like a queen in your own place on that kind of income in the normal parts of this country! If you can't get the big job, then get out of the big city. It may pay a lot more, but it sucks that income right back out of you!

Sue of FL 5:00PM September 25, 2010

Where do they find these poster child reformed rich people who suddenly have to live on "only" $1900 per month? I have a college degree and have worked all kinds of jobs over the past 30 years. I have weathered 4 recessions, including this current one. I made less than $18K per year for 25 of the past 30 years, and still did fine. What planet are these people on? How about showing me how to live on $6K per year? Now that would be educational! This article is a fraud!

Michael Davis of FL 3:36PM July 27, 2010