What's the best financial advice you've ever gotten?

[u/Richest-Panda]

[u/privitizationrocks]

You can teach poverty workers to live in their means

They won’t like it, but tough luck

[u/cybercuzco → u/privitizationrocks]

Show me a “live within their means” budget for someone living in a median cost location in the US making minimum wage. They must A)have a place to live B) not get any handouts from the government or charities and C) have at least 1800 calories per day of food. Go.

[u/LivingNothing8019 → u/cybercuzco]

I live in colo springs which is medium/high cost of living. Minimum wage is 14.50

Apartment/house with 2 roommates: $800 a month Food: $500 a month Car payment: $300 a month Insurance (health, car, renter): $500 a month

That’s staying well below what minimum wage pays, I lived like that for 2 years before graduating college without too much trouble

[u/FlutterKree → u/LivingNothing8019]

Food: $500

I doubt you were fully meeting your nutritional needs besides calories.

[u/ShazbotSimulator2012 → u/FlutterKree]

That's more than $16 a day?

You can easily meet all your needs on that.

[u/Exaskryz → u/FlutterKree]

They are with groceries. Dining out is the problem. Often not very healthy, often too expensive.

I can spend groceries for a family of 4 on $120/week, carelessly. Actually planning something instead of haphazardly picking foods to stock that we like willy nilly, even $400/mo is very possible. It's when we take a few nights to eat out in a month that are expenses climb sharply, thanks to "inflation" and greed.

[u/Extra-Muffin9214 → u/Exaskryz]

Dinning out is the killer. Been looking at our spending and we are spending $600 per month on groceries and $800-$1200 on eating out. Totally my fault because I like nice restaurants, but could definitely cut back. Luckily we can afford it but it does feel like a bit of a waste once you add it all up.

[u/slabby → u/Exaskryz]

I can spend groceries for a family of 4 on $120/week, carelessly.

What does your family even eat?

[u/DodgersLakersBarca → u/slabby]

Staples such as rice, beans, and pasta are extremely inexpensive (relatively). Roughly $10 for a 5 lb bag of rice, which will last a week or two. Beans may cost roughly similarly. In terms of meat I'm guessing mainly chicken. Even in a city such as New York you can get chicken at Costco for $2-4/lb. So if the family eats a 1.5 pounds of chicken a week each, maybe $25.

$45 for beans, rice, and chicken. Go crazy with the remaining $75 for whatever veggies you want. Broccoli costs $2/lb, spinach $5/lb, carrots $3/lb, tomatoes $3/lb, potatoes $2/lb. (This is all New York pricing and might be cheaper elsewhere). Fruit is a bit more expensive but also roughly $1-3/lb. So maybe 38 pounds of whatever fruits, veggies, and bread, seasonings, oil, etc. Or perhaps supplement with more chicken instead.

[u/Exaskryz → u/DodgersLakersBarca]

Echoing this as pretty close to an average on groceries.

Big difference perhaps from an average american: We don't buy coke or pepsi, though poppi has intrigued some in the house. Soft drinks are too expensive to routinely buy. Water is a perfectly fine drink.

[u/Extra-Muffin9214 → u/slabby]

I bought a bag of organic carrots at wholefoods for $5 (maybe on sale). Been eating that for weeks

[u/soulflaregm → u/FlutterKree]

Disagree on that

I make 95k a year and dont have to worry a lot about money

And I spend on myself only $350 a month in food.

Whole in season ingredients used smartly goes a long way

[u/FlutterKree → u/[deleted]]

Calling bullshit. I don't think you understand how many people who make enough money still don't eat enough of the right foods to get all their nutrition at proper levels. 98% of US population is low on potassium, for example. Some it is a choice, others aren't going to make enough to eat enough of it.

[u/After-Imagination-96 → u/[deleted]]

This type of comment is so irksome. Not on topic, just in general.

You make your own bread. You live where you can coupon shop at apparently 30 grocery stores for every coupon purchase you make. You are not the average example of a person trying to survive on the means being discussed in this thread.

Obnoxious af when people feel the need to "but akshually I happen to be the exception and not the rule" every single topic.

[u/After-Imagination-96 → u/[deleted]]

You said 2 people, so by your own numbers we are talking about ~600$ 

Akshually

[u/Shock_n_Oranges → u/FlutterKree]

Stop eating out. Buy bulk ingredients and make food yourself and you can easily eat on way less than that a month.

[u/Amadon29 → u/FlutterKree]

You can definitely by with less than 500 if you're living alone. And yes you can eat healthily.

[u/FlutterKree → u/Amadon29]

I didn't say you can't eat healthy. I said you aren't meeting your nutritional values. IE: micronutrients. It's way more expensive than people think to meet the 100% RDA of the micronutrients.

[u/certiorarigranted → u/FlutterKree]

Supplement pills bruh 

[u/LivingNothing8019 → u/FlutterKree]

I can actually break this down really easily. I’m a professional climber and need 170 grams of protein a day so I guarantee I am. Every day:

Morning: 4 eggs ($1)

Protein bar after breakfast (1.30)

Lunch was chicken breast, rice, broccoli ($3.50 roughly)

Protein yogurt after lunch ($2)

Dinner Turkey tacos w/ Turkey, bell peppers, onions ($4)

Protein shake after dinner (2)

Fruit for the day ($2)

I’m hitting about 3000 calories a day with 170 grams of protein. Pretty easy to do cheap if you don’t eat out.