retiring on the cheap questions

[NikatKimber]

Technically electricity is a luxury rather than a necessity.
You can go to bed at sunset and get up at sunrise like my grandparents did.

True.... but it's a luxury I would be hard pressed to give up.

I didnt include these 2 items on my list. My health ins. is paid for (thank god) and I have no debt. I still couldnt live on $1200

Mine is too... right now. But we're talking about retiring. In which case you either have to qualify for .gov healthcare or pay your own.

 

[Hobbes]

True.... but it's a luxury I would be hard pressed to give up.

Try to think of it as camping, without the campground fee.

 

[CHenry]

If the OP retires to MX, he wont need health insurance. Medical care is cheap and top notch there. I have a buddy who goes to MX for major stuff. He had all his upper teath put in with implants. Would have cost him $30,000 here. His total out of pocket for this in MX was $3,000 including his travel. And he said the facility was state of the art.

 

[COZICAN]

"decent" health insurance is very affordable in Mexico.

http://www.focusonmexico.com/Mexico-Topics/Health-Care/IMSS-National-Health-Insurance.html

 

[CHenry]

"decent" health insurance is very affordable in Mexico.

http://www.focusonmexico.com/Mexico-Topics/Health-Care/IMSS-National-Health-Insurance.html

Wow, that is cheap!

 

[COZICAN]

I have friends who have it for emergencies. Its a government program which means waiting in line; sometimes for days. Its pretty cheap to just walk into a regular clinic for simple things but good to have insurance.

 

[LightningCrash]

I'd like to see a breakdown of the $1200 monthly budget, FullAuto.

 

[dennishoddy]

I'd like to see a breakdown of the $1200 monthly budget, FullAuto.

I'm no way in heck going to try to get by on $1200 per month, but I'm willing to put a pencil to some scenerio's where I might.

#1 would be you owned your home.
#2 You have a water well. They still make windmills, and hand pumps.
#3 My home is total electric. Our annual averaged bill is around $400 a month, so now we have the first expense. If one disregards the initial installation, you can heat water with solar, generate electricity with solar or heat with wood. That would negate a lot of the $400 of utilities.
#4 If a person can convince their significant other to chew animal skins which will make them pliant, one can use these for clothing. Our Native Americans and Inuits did this.
#5 Used tires and inner tubes can easily be made into footwear. Add some local fauna for decoration if your into fancy footwear. One has to keep fashion in mind!
#6 Putting one foot in front of the other makes for transportation with no expense to the budget.
#7 Weapons, and means of gathering fish an food are at hand in the woods at no expense if one knows how to take advantage of them.

So, to make a long story short, YES one can get by on $1200 a month with some left over for fine cigars and a decent whisky.

 

[FullAuto]

I'd like to see a breakdown of the $1200 monthly budget, FullAuto.

Currently, I don't do it. We live on somewhere around $2500 per month for a family of 3. By that I mean we have 1 account that we live off of and it receives right at $2500 per month from direct deposit. Bills, food, fuel, spending cash some from that account. It's always under $100 on payday. It's setup like that for budgeting purposes. We change the direct deposit based on the budget. It's been there for about 19 months now.

Cutting daycare would save ~$360. If I wasn't feeding my wife and son, that would get it down some. I carry 250/500/100, $100 deductible G, $0 deductible D, $10k C, R on my wife's car. I carry 500/500/100, $100 deductible G, $0 deductible D, $10k C, 500/500 U on my truck. I have a PLUP roughly $200k in PAPs. So just cutting insurance back to what normal people have I could save $150-175/month. Insurance is our biggest expense per month outside of I guess food.

Our house is total electric. Last month our bill was $95. We live on well and septic. The city trash bill is I think around $15 per month. I usually pay $200 at a time so I don't have to pay it for a year. I think I'm paid until October or so. My wife drives about 24k miles per year, but drives a Hybrid. On it's worst day it will get 32mpg. It averages mid-30s and we got a best of 42mpg driving to Florida with it. Round trip to Orlando was $225 in fuel. I buy 1 tank of diesel every 4-6 weeks.

Our standard of living is just different than a lot of people on here. I'm not saying it's better or worse than anyone else. But it is different. It wouldn't work for everyone. It works for us. When I paid my house off in 2013, that was the first year my wife and I had ever broken $70k combined (and just barely). In 2014, we both got promotions within 2 months of each other and broke $80k for the first time (but not $85k). We'll do better this year because we'll be getting our higher rates for the entire year. So we're not exactly rich. My wife and I make within $600 of each other on our base salaries. Neither of us have degrees.

She gets an allowance of $30 per week. She got $25 per week when we first married. About 4 years in, she got a raise. As hard as that may be for people to believe (actually most people don't believe it when they first hear it), it is true and there are people here than can vouch for it. My family, her family, all our friends, etc. know the situation. They don't all agree with it. We don't hide it. It's different. It's somewhat extreme to most people. July we'll be married 11 years. It works for us. It's not changing anytime soon.

Anyway, I don't live off $1200 per month. I'm just looking at the fact that if I cut the undisciplined 2 of 3 in my current situation, the additional kid costs and my excessive insurance, I think living off 50% of our current budget would be a breeze.

 

[rhodesbe]

I'm no way in heck going to try to get by on $1200 per month, but I'm willing to put a pencil to some scenerio's where I might.

#1 would be you owned your home.
#2 You have a water well. They still make windmills, and hand pumps.
#3 My home is total electric. Our annual averaged bill is around $400 a month, so now we have the first expense. If one disregards the initial installation, you can heat water with solar, generate electricity with solar or heat with wood. That would negate a lot of the $400 of utilities.
#4 If a person can convince their significant other to chew animal skins which will make them pliant, one can use these for clothing. Our Native Americans and Inuits did this.
#5 Used tires and inner tubes can easily be made into footwear. Add some local fauna for decoration if your into fancy footwear. One has to keep fashion in mind!
#6 Putting one foot in front of the other makes for transportation with no expense to the budget.
#7 Weapons, and means of gathering fish an food are at hand in the woods at no expense if one knows how to take advantage of them.

So, to make a long story short, YES one can get by on $1200 a month with some left over for fine cigars and a decent whisky.

#8 use those smelly colonge inserts in magazines instead of deodorant
#9 drink own pee
#10 steal neighbor's bandwidth by guessing his anniversay date password on the wifi router
#11 give kids same rewrapped DVD of 'Ernest Goes To Camp' from $5 bin at Walmart for Christmas. When they complain, demand they honor 'tradition'.