# How to live on $300/month?



## CoonXpress (Sep 20, 2004)

Due to some mishaps and happenstances, been unemployed for a bit.
Had to move back in with my dad, then my truck died, repairable but cost prohibitive to operate.

Anyway, he has a place near Kingston OK, that he's going to let me move into this upcoming spring. While there I will be responsible for fixing the place back up.
Mobile home on Â½ac, needs front and back decks, drive rebuilt, skirting, storage/workshop built plus various interior work due to a rusted out hot water heater. 

Will be provided with a vehicle(looking for something inexpensive in the 30+ mpg range that can pull an 1000lb trailer), cell phone(current one has a very limited range in that area), water, electricity, propane and a $300/month living expense.

Big question is, how to live on the $300/month?
Known monthly expenses so far, in order of importance;


 $50(min) banked to save for new firearm> freezer> Mantis tiller
 $25 Vehicle maintenance.
 AT&T DSL $25 (DSL w/o a phone line)
 Netflix $20, will be swapping to Dish Network when possible.

Yes, I know it sounds odd to have the firearm as the priority, but will be the main source of getting meat. Plus it'll be a 4-1 firearm, shotgun, slug gun, rifle and black powder rifle, it'll cover about 95% of the gun hunting that I'll do. 22 rifle or pistol will cover the rest.

Lake Texoma and several ponds is within a 5 minute drive, and yes I'm planning on eating a bunch of fish and maybe turtle gumbo.
Have Corps of Engineering land backed up to the back fence and can hunt and trap there.
Will have a small garden space(100Â²), but it will only be to grow fresh items that I won't find or afford locally. Larger garden will be possible the next year.
Raising 2-4 chickens for eggs might be a possibility, but would have to wait a year to begin that.
Will have to furnish the kitchen with cookware, do have a rice cooker, kitchen knife set and a mini wok. Might get a 2qt slow cooker and a toaster oven.

So how would you work this out, on $300 a month?
And yes I will be looking for employment or ways to legally supplement the money. 
Ask questions and I'll do my best to answer.
Plus sorry if I seem vague or TMI about this, have a lot more experience about giving advice that I know about or being a smartarse on forums, than asking for major help.


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## Smalltowngirl (Mar 28, 2010)

What about auto insurance & tags; is insurance required in OK?

The other item you should probably add to the list is either garden seeds &/or plants or $$ for store bought veggies.

Check out the Salvation Army or yard sales for kitchen gear.

Best of Luck on this challenge.


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## soulsurvivor (Jul 4, 2004)

If you're into home contruction work there should be numerous jobs opening up after the quakes last night. I don't wish anyone harm but I know after the statewide icestorm hit in Ky a few years ago, there were many jobs available to the independent contractors and fix-it guys. Along with that there were numerous jobs in clearing downed trees everywhere. 

I don't know that you could set up your own repair business but maybe you and your dad might discuss it. Be something to do until time to move.


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## willow_girl (Dec 7, 2002)

What is the job market like in that area? Are you likely to be able to pick up work?

$300 a month isn't enough to live on long-term. What about health insurance? What happens if you get hurt or sick? What if you and your dad don't see eye-to-eye on the work? These "trade labor for rent" deals seldom work out to the satisfaction of both parties, in my experience.

If a permanent job isn't likely near Kingston, I think I'd try to relocate to a place where the economy is strong. (Yes, there are such places.) It will be harder getting started without the assistance of family, but in the long run, you'll probably be better off. 

Good luck to you in whatever you decide.


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## farmerj (Aug 20, 2011)

Unfortunate thing is, most states enacted laws requiring licensing and being bonded due to a lot of disasters. "Protect the residents!" More like protect you buddies in the business.

Best of luck with this endeavor.


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## CoonXpress (Sep 20, 2004)

Smalltowngirl said:


> What about auto insurance & tags; is insurance required in OK?
> 
> The other item you should probably add to the list is either garden seeds &/or plants or $$ for store bought veggies.
> 
> ...


Opps should've mentioned, insurance and tag will be taken care of. I'll be responsible for oil changes and gas, will be saving in case of breakdown or when in need of tires.

Have already started on ordering seed catalogs and trying to figure what I use that won't be found locally.

Will check out the SA, have some items that I need to take to them when I get the chance.



soulsurvivor said:


> If you're into home contruction work there should be numerous jobs opening up after the quakes last night. I don't wish anyone harm but I know after the statewide icestorm hit in Ky a few years ago, there were many jobs available to the independent contractors and fix-it guys. Along with that there were numerous jobs in clearing downed trees everywhere.
> 
> I don't know that you could set up your own repair business but maybe you and your dad might discuss it. Be something to do until time to move.


I know just enough that I feel comfortable about working on my own place. But you're right about people needed house repairs, I have cracks in ceilings, interior and exterior walls and front porch is cracked.
As for a handyman/repair business there, I can think of 5-6 between Kingston and the mobile home.


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## frogmammy (Dec 8, 2004)

Your DSL, with "regulatory chrges" will run about 12% more. Same thing for your Dish Network. Skip the Netflix and get your videos from the library...you're going to be busy, anyway.

Find the closest "scratch & dent" grocery store and the local thrift stores.

You MAY be able to find a vehicle that gets over 30mpg and can haul a 1000 pound trailer...empty. Be sure and check tongue weight so you'll know what your vehicle can do...lot of those high mpg vehicles have a tongue weight of 150 pounds or less.

Get a bicycle for those "short" trips for fishing and hunting. Get one with fat tires so you can ride it into the woods and around the lake, also.

Mon


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## CoonXpress (Sep 20, 2004)

frogmammy said:


> Your DSL, with "regulatory chrges" will run about 12% more. Same thing for your Dish Network. Skip the Netflix and get your videos from the library...you're going to be busy, anyway.
> 
> Find the closest "scratch & dent" grocery store and the local thrift stores.
> 
> ...


Going to need the DSL, that's for certain, stream movies, shows and voip.
Dish Network, lot cheaper than DirectTv and would be able to get NHK with them.
Netflix, have that now, only thing I have asked for, and do stream quite a bit of movies, like I said, will cancel when get the Dish Network. Plus the cost would still be cheaper than going to the nearest library in Madill 23 miles away. Dollar stores and grocery is on the east side of Kingston, only 10 miles away.

On the 1000lb trailer, did mean fully loaded. Have a 4X10 trailer that needs to be rewired and re-floored.
As for the bicycle, already have a mountain bike, will need to build a trailer for it.


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## CoonXpress (Sep 20, 2004)

willow_girl said:


> What is the job market like in that area? Are you likely to be able to pick up work?
> 
> $300 a month isn't enough to live on long-term. What about health insurance? What happens if you get hurt or sick? What if you and your dad don't see eye-to-eye on the work? These "trade labor for rent" deals seldom work out to the satisfaction of both parties, in my experience.
> 
> ...


From what I've been able to gather, unemployment is fairly low there.
But being able to pick up work, haven't been able to find much on the internet, so will have hit the businesses and see who's hiring.
Health insurance is a major factor for me to want to work, family does have history of diabetes, only option I have at the moment is saying that I'm an illegal alien.

Truthfully, really not looking for anything permanent in the area. Just need some space between my dad and I. Plus do know what I want in the long run and this will hopefully get me back on my feet, which is the biggest thing needed right now.


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## Jonathan (Oct 26, 2011)

Normally I don't like to nitpick at the choices other makes, but $20 for Netflix seems a bit much. You might consider just the streaming for $7.99. There is plenty to keep you entertained if you don't need to watch new releases. By supplementing that with Hulu (free, not Hulu Plus) and offerings from individual networks you could save $12/month. That doesn't seem like much, but it is 4% of your $300 budget.


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## NickieL (Jun 15, 2007)

Will you be also having your family live off that 300?! that makes a huge diffrence....A single person, making no rent or car payments, 300 is doable, tight, but doable. But if you have dependents, I would def. get rid of the internet/netflix expense.


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## nancy237 (May 29, 2008)

I get the instant view netflex for 6.95 a month..more movies than I have time to watch.


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

300 a month is going to be tite. 100 a month tucked away for your old age, another hundred for necessities... liquor, smokes, and the like, will only leave you another hundred for luxuries but if you are careful you should be ok.


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## sisterpine (May 9, 2004)

Will you have or be eligible for food stamps. If the three hundred is your only income you should be eligible and that would help a great deal.


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## Pelenaka (Jul 27, 2007)

I think that you should beable to live like a King on $300 a month.

Here's my list 

Medical- locate the nearest free clinic or urgent care center print off hours keep a copy in your wallet along with shot record & date of your last tetanus. For low cost tetanus & TP testing contact your local county health dept. Check into any dental school clinics schedule an appointment for a cleaning now it often takes 6 mos. or more. 
Have a well stocked first aid kit. Crazy glue is great for closing cuts. Keep a good supply of cold remedies on hand to help prevent a cold from turning into something worse.

Wear your safety gear diligently those ER visits are expensive.

Post fliers or hit freecycle for household needs like kitchen gadgets. 

Consider gleaning & foraging for your needs & as items to barter.


~~ pelenaka ~~


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## CoonXpress (Sep 20, 2004)

Jonathan said:


> Normally I don't like to nitpick at the choices other makes, but $20 for Netflix seems a bit much. You might consider just the streaming for $7.99. There is plenty to keep you entertained if you don't need to watch new releases. By supplementing that with Hulu (free, not Hulu Plus) and offerings from individual networks you could save $12/month. That doesn't seem like much, but it is 4% of your $300 budget.


True, but main thing I watch is Japanese movies. Some are streamed but the best ones are on dvds. It is one of the very few luxuries that I allow myself.


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## thesedays (Feb 25, 2011)

Regarding health insurance: A person who's earning $300 a month will probably be eligible for Medicaid, especially if they also own no vehicle or property.

Check out http://www.freecycle.org to see if there's a chapter in the area you're moving to. If there is, you can get pretty much anything you need or want from them. Just one warning: If you put out a request, or have something to give, follow through on your commitments. Most chapters have a "3 strikes and you're out" policy for no-call no-shows.


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## jlrbhjmnc (May 2, 2010)

Internet I understand, but television? Check out the local library. Many have movies to check out. Or borrow from family and friends. If you have enough out of $300 to pay $20+ a month on Netflix and tv, set it aside for emergencies.

Good luck with your move and new start!


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## JuliaAnn (Dec 7, 2004)

It sounds like a good chance to get started, but to be frank, you can't eat Netflix, so if I were in your situation I would use that $20.00 and use it to buy more food, or put it toward other consumables like hygiene items, seeds, etc. For entertainment you could read or take up a hobby. In a situation where you only have $300 a month total, twenty bucks is a significant portion of that. 

Just my .03.


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## CoonXpress (Sep 20, 2004)

NickieL said:


> Will you be also having your family live off that 300?! that makes a huge diffrence....A single person, making no rent or car payments, 300 is doable, tight, but doable. But if you have dependents, I would def. get rid of the internet/netflix expense.


No kids, did thought about getting a dog, but that'll be more expensive than kids.



sisterpine said:


> Will you have or be eligible for food stamps. If the three hundred is your only income you should be eligible and that would help a great deal.


Single white male = ineligible for food stamps
Plus haven't asked for any state or federal aid yet.

Do know a guy with a $15/hr job that is getting $400/month in foodstamps plus other state aid, have been thinking about calling and asking how that's possible.


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## kasilofhome (Feb 10, 2005)

Ok, I know that it can be done. 

Internet will help you do it.
Craigslist
items to look for
chickens that folk want to get rid of -meat or eggs 
barter there and trade up
limit prepared food to cheaper than you can make
cook from scratch.
shop seldom
flour, cooking oil, eggs, sugar, rice, beans, baking powder, ground pork, can tomatoes and sause dried milk (saves gas -no extra driving) pancake topping, butter or sub, veggy of your choice, potates and ionons
that is means pancakes, fried eggs, fried rice, rice pudding,pasta, hash browns, custards, sausage and gravy. rices and beans, Now add fish and hunting you can do it. buy some seeds, for greens that are quick and some others that are longer. Plant anywhere in any thing.


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## soulsurvivor (Jul 4, 2004)

Are the trailer repairs/materials coming out of the monthly allowance? If that's true I'd recommend actively seeking out employment and moving to wherever that is located. Your main focus has to be on getting dependable transportation.


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## chewie (Jun 9, 2008)

i also don't get the tv part. luxury is nice but on $300 a month, you might not get that far. on $300/month, food may be your favorite luxury. you know, reading is a very relaxing thing to do, very peaceful and if you're goign to be working hard all day, a hot cuppa and a good book feels wonderful.

i do gotta say the internet would be one i'd try to keep. learned so much from it, its almost a full blown necessity! and, you can watch stuff on that instead of a tv.

http://www.dorothyainsworth.com/eat/well.html a favorite site of mine, tons of super ideas to live on the cheap but not feel like it.

do your laundry in a bucket with a new toilet plunger. hang to dry. make your own laundry detergent to do it with. 

take good care of your health, cheaper than doctors. 

you might look into helping on a farm, or an elderly person. sometimes there is a live in situation, so your room/board is free, plus a better income, for just doing household help. as a single, i think that could be a very good situation for both parties. relief (substitute) milkers is another situation that would leave you plenty of time, and often a good source of fresh milk, of which you can also turn into butter and simple to make cheese. 

learn to make bread. cheapo stuff is not good for you, so in the long run, not so cheap! not to mention tastes and feels like garbage. you dont' have to be rich to eat well.

turn off lights, keep the heat low, put on more clothes that you get super cheap at good will. 

i think getting chickens now is a better idea. they are super cheap to keep and 4 hens will keep you in a good protein source, which you're gonna need doing labor all day. add some beans or make some biscuits, and you can eat well for cheap. make a chicken tractor for them out of junk from the dump. the dump (if you are allowed to take from it, some places can't) has tons of really good stuff soemtimes!! and keep an eye on big-pickup-day and go curb shopping. 

best of luck, this is going to be a challenge but you will be stronger for it!

http://homestead.org/NewIndexes/Directory.htm another link with good ideas. and check out 'possum living' a book by a gal named dolly, i think you can even download it free somewhere?? now THAT is some serious no-money living!


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## CoonXpress (Sep 20, 2004)

Pelenaka said:


> I think that you should beable to live like a King on $300 a month.
> 
> Here's my list
> 
> ...


Have been going to Neighborhood Services Organization for dental work this year. 2 months in between appointments but getting work done that's about 20 years late. As for Crazy Glue, that is my first aid kit.
Only kitchen items really needed is small set of pots & pans, small slow cooker and skillets.
Won't be able to glean anything, only cattle or pecan groves in the area.



Yvonne's hubby said:


> 300 a month is going to be tite. 100 a month tucked away for your old age, another hundred for necessities... liquor, smokes, and the like, will only leave you another hundred for luxuries but if you are careful you should be ok.


Quit smoking 7 years ago on Christmas Eve, but sake and whiskey is always a necessity



thesedays said:


> Regarding health insurance: A person who's earning $300 a month will probably be eligible for Medicaid, especially if they also own no vehicle or property.
> 
> Check out http://www.freecycle.org to see if there's a chapter in the area you're moving to. If there is, you can get pretty much anything you need or want from them. Just one warning: If you put out a request, or have something to give, follow through on your commitments. Most chapters have a "3 strikes and you're out" policy for no-call no-shows.


Can't find anything about medicaid off the internet, plus I'm fairly skittish of the DHS here.



jlrbhjmnc said:


> Internet I understand, but television? Check out the local library. Many have movies to check out. Or borrow from family and friends. If you have enough out of $300 to pay $20+ a month on Netflix and tv, set it aside for emergencies.
> 
> Good luck with your move and new start!





JuliaAnn said:


> It sounds like a good chance to get started, but to be frank, you can't eat Netflix, so if I were in your situation I would use that $20.00 and use it to buy more food, or put it toward other consumables like hygiene items, seeds, etc. For entertainment you could read or take up a hobby. In a situation where you only have $300 a month total, twenty bucks is a significant portion of that.
> 
> Just my .03.


Netflix will be my only indulgance, plus it will be dropped when I get the satellite tv.
As for hobbies, do have a few, they're just not on the cheap side, but will be trying to learn a new language while down there.
And for reading, been downloading what interesting free books that I can.


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## jen74145 (Oct 31, 2006)

When we thought we were too broke for insurance on DH's truck one month (I know, I know! We were poor stupid college kids), he got in a wreck in OK. Highway pileup, no way to avoid. Insurance (liability) would have cost us $65 that month. That wreck cost us $2800 in repairs to the vehicle he hit, plus a nice fat ticket, and we had to pay the tow/storage fee of $365 for a few days. His truck was completely totalled.

It was a big old 66 pickup so DH was miraculously uninjured except a small cut, if anyone is fretting.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

That's a tight budget. You aren't going to be able to afford to heat your entire home in the winter. You'll need a space heater for your bedroom to stay comfortable. Move your TV & computer in the bedroom and basically live there. You'll need to keep the rest of the house just warm enough that your pipes don't freeze, then wear a sweater when you cook.

The only thing you'll be able to afford in the summer is an evaporative cooler, but at least your entire house will be somewhat comfortable. Look for a used one.

Don't just accept your limited income. In your spare time, start an online career.


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## Guest (Nov 6, 2011)

I live on less than $300 a month. My utility bill this past month was $54. $20 internet, $48 phone. $25 auto insurance (per vehicle), $12 homeowners(I have a huge deductible though). I spend about $20 a month on groceries. I use 10 pounds of flour a month, I make all my own bread and pasta with that. A few odds and ends, and I'm out of there with $20 or so spent. I make all my own beer and wine, beer costs me 19 cents per 12 ounce bottle or $1.14 for a 6-pack. In the summer, if there's enough fruit, it costs about a dollar a gallon to make. 25 cents for a good afternoon of sipping. costs $3.50 a gallon to make if I have to buy everything, including fruit juice.

I grow a fair sized garden, got a fair sized orchard. Do a lot of canning. Keep a mess of chickens. Shoot some game from time to time.


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

Reality check. Just to insure one vehicle if you have good credit and arent under 25 is going to take a goodly percentage of your yearly 3600. If you are under 25 and dont have good credit rating or if you want to pay monthly rather than six months at a time..... Then there is FUEL. $3 to $4 gasoline can eat lot cash unless you just need to go to town once a month... Even then the insurance is just as high whether you drive 1000 miles a year or 100,000 miles a year...

Broadband and satellite tv are pretty much luxury. If you have a Sprint network tower close you can get a Boost Mobile pay as you go telephone. Its flat 35cents a day for slow data network which you can tether to a laptop or desktop computer. Its SLOW but you can do email and light browsing without much problem. You arent going to stream anything, but ... And you also have telephone connection for 10cents a minute. Its good deal if you make few telephone calls.

$25 a month vehicle maintanence? Have you priced tires lately? Let alone other car parts. Unless you drive an antique like me, new alternator can be $250. If you only need one repair per year and you do all the labor, maybe you can make it.

Frankly if I were going to try and live super low budget, I'd be considering living without electricity. I live in same climate as you do only over the Arkansas border. I heat with wood and dont use air conditioner in summer and dont have running water. In winter months my electric is now around $35. In summer my bills are around $50 a month due to running fans and the refrigerator and small freezer are working harder. Consider what I pay as pretty much minimum kind of electric bill you will experience. If you have more modern living situation, its going to cost lot more. 

The way I would approach living minimally is not thinking what I cant live without, but thinking what $300 will buy that I absolutely cant live without. Since you apparently have free rent, the next thing to think about is food. Then be realistic about transportation. If you are going to drive everyday it costs $$$. Then think about heat in winter, yes Oklahoma can be cold too. Are you heating with wood? LPG? Electric? If wood, are you cutting your own wood? Do you have a chainsaw, do you have a pickup to haul the wood you cut? Unless you have a super insulated house, buying fuel to heat is more $$$.


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

zong said:


> I live on less than $300 a month. My utility bill this past month was $54. $20 internet, $48 phone. $25 auto insurance (per vehicle), $12 homeowners(I have a huge deductible though). I spend about $20 a month on groceries. I use 10 pounds of flour a month, I make all my own bread and pasta with that. A few odds and ends, and I'm out of there with $20 or so spent. I make all my own beer and wine, beer costs me 19 cents per 12 ounce bottle or $1.14 for a 6-pack. In the summer, if there's enough fruit, it costs about a dollar a gallon to make. 25 cents for a good afternoon of sipping. costs $3.50 a gallon to make if I have to buy everything, including fruit juice.
> 
> I grow a fair sized garden, got a fair sized orchard. Do a lot of canning. Keep a mess of chickens. Shoot some game from time to time.


I assume you are like me and only drive your vehicles on short trip once or twice a month. Young folk cant fathom staying at home, or at least most of them cant.


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## Guest (Nov 6, 2011)

Yea, its about a 5 mile round trip to town, once a month. Sometimes I have to go every 2 weeks though.


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## bluemoonluck (Oct 28, 2008)

Does gas for the vehicle come out of your $300/month too? 

How well is the home insulated? Your electric/gas bills will depend greatly on how drafty the house is.

Dry beans and big bags of rice will be the mainstays of your diet. I totally agree with those who recommended laying hens....save all your food scraps (if you have any) in a small bucket in the fridge to supplement their feed and their eggs will be yummy.

Hit up the local bakery outlet stores and see if you can get "pet bread" - often you can get a cart-load of out of date bread for a few dollars. You'll sign a waiver that no humans can eat it....but honestly you can pick over it when you get it home and see what is human edible and what isn't. Dry it all out within a few days to make breadcrumbs, or freeze it, to keep it from getting moldy before you have a chance to feed it to your chickens.


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## NamasteMama (Jul 24, 2009)

I don't see any of the basics in your 300$ what about food, toiletries, gas for your truck? That will be at least 1/2 your $300 right there.


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## NickieL (Jun 15, 2007)

Will you be paying the utilities? how will you heat? in winter, monthly utilities for DH and I, with heat set on 68, are at least 300 a month. We are cutting way back this year, we use lanterns instead of lights, no tv, keeping it to 60 in here. You may be able to get help with your utilities I guess.


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

willow_girl said:


> What about health insurance? What happens if you get hurt or sick?


You gotta be kidding. The only health insurance you can get for reasonable price is some major medical policy with huge deductible that few people could ever afford if they needed to use the insurance. Real medical insurance is $$$$ and few full time blue collar people can afford it unless they luck into a job that provides it (getting very rare), let alone somebody living on $3600. At $3600 , you get a large economy bottle of aspirin and a box of bandaides and you have to save up for the bandaides and be careful not to use too many. Maybe start looking for willow trees locally and boiling the bark instead of buying aspirin.....

And we can ask the same for lot other people too young for medicare but own few acres land or small home and dont qualify for welfare.


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## Dutchie (Mar 14, 2003)

Here is my 2 cents:

While the unemployment rate in Oklahoma is very low and the economy strong, Kingston is a town with a population of less than 2,000 people and is approximately an hour away from Ardmore, OK and Denison, TX, town that are large enough to offer marginal employment. Not only is that impractical due to the price of gas, you don't have reliable transportation.

I don't know what you did for work, but if I were you I would stay in the OKC or Tulsa areas, get a job and rent an inexpensive place, or even a room from somebody until you can afford your own place.

The Kingston plan just doesn't make sense.


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## CoonXpress (Sep 20, 2004)

soulsurvivor said:


> Are the trailer repairs/materials coming out of the monthly allowance? If that's true I'd recommend actively seeking out employment and moving to wherever that is located. Your main focus has to be on getting dependable transportation.


Money will be provided when needed for repairs. Items that I want, will be out of the 300.



kasilofhome said:


> Ok, I know that it can be done.
> 
> Internet will help you do it.
> Craigslist
> ...


Can the dried milk be used for cooking or for making homemade yogurt?
No matter how much I try, I can't make fried rice.



chewie said:


> do your laundry in a bucket with a new toilet plunger. hang to dry. make your own laundry detergent to do it with.
> 
> take good care of your health, cheaper than doctors.
> 
> ...


Have used the plunger washing machine before.
Have worked on a few ranches before, have long since forgotten names for references.
Don't eat that much bread, but some good french bread is always welcomed, so is a heavy jalapeno and cheese bread that a local store makes.
MH is well insulated and does have a fireplace, plus will be changing light bulbs out when needed.
Chickens would be nice, but really won't be able to have a coop for them for awhile, plus need to see about having them there. Coop and chicken supplies will be coming out of the monthly $300.
Will need to find out where the dump is at, have 2 boats that's in dire need to go there.
As far as I know, there isn't a big pickup day in the area.


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## Dutchie (Mar 14, 2003)

bluemoonluck said:


> Hit up the local bakery outlet stores and see if you can get "pet bread" - .


Closest bakery outlet to Kingston is 120 miles away in Idabel.


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## NickieL (Jun 15, 2007)

lol could you turn one of the boats into a chicken house?! Sometimes you have to get creative!


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

bluemoonluck said:


> How well is the home insulated? Your electric/gas bills will depend greatly on how drafty the house is.


It's a mobile home, which won't be insulated worth a darn. He'll have to live in one room.



bluemoonluck said:


> Dry beans and big bags of rice will be the mainstays of your diet.


He's going to boil a lot of beans for sure, but he'll get good at it. Bread & tortillas will be luxuries.


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## Wolf mom (Mar 8, 2005)

I work with the elderly. You'd be surprised many live on $300.00 or less after rent. Most in subsidized housing or paid off homes. If they own their own home, there's no money for upkeep.

The three ways they economize are electricity (heat) food and medications. To have Netflix or anything like that is an unheard of luxury. To get to the store is by the goodness of friends as a car is also a luxury.

Most don't have family nearby or children who think they are better off than they really are. Elders can be pretty proud. 

Ya do what ya gotta do & if you think you're badly off, there's more a lot worse. Being young, there's the option of finding a second job. Not so for the elderly.


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## jen74145 (Oct 31, 2006)

Yeah, TBH I'd head up to Tulsa and pick up restaurant work or retail. They hire anyone. 

Easy enough to net $800/month up there even if you have no formal education. A decent apartment can be had for around $600/month, team up with a couple of roommates (between Spartan and the community college, there are always decent folks needing a place to stay for minimal $). Take advantage of the cheap grocery stores (Aldi's, a Save A Lot, and plenty of other options to do the Walmart Ad Match thing). Can be done, *and* there's a bus system.

I had girlfriends who made a good bit more than $800 waitressing full time (IHOP, Olive Garden... mid-price places tipped best), especially around the holidays.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

willow_girl said:


> What about health insurance? What happens if you get hurt or sick?


Not relevant in his case. He doesn't need health insurance under our current system. The one silver lining to being in his situation is that he's completely judgement-proof. If he gets hurt or sick he goes to the ER to get the care he needs. All he needs to do is mail a cease communication demand letter to any bill collectors to stop phone calls, then throw any mailed bills in the trash.


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## Dutchie (Mar 14, 2003)

jen74145 said:


> Yeah, TBH I'd head up to Tulsa and pick up restaurant work or retail. They hire anyone.
> 
> Easy enough to net $800/month up there even if you have no formal education. A decent apartment can be had for around $600/month, team up with a couple of roommates (between Spartan and the community college, there are always decent folks needing a place to stay for minimal $). Take advantage of the cheap grocery stores (Aldi's, a Save A Lot, and plenty of other options to do the Walmart Ad Match thing). Can be done, *and* there's a bus system.
> 
> I had girlfriends who made a good bit more than $800 waitressing full time (IHOP, Olive Garden... mid-price places tipped best), especially around the holidays.


Excellent advise. I have seen studio apartments for as little as $300-$400 a month.

What exactly did you mean by:


> I'd head up to Tulsa and pick up restaurant work or retail. *They hire anyone*.


:rotfl:


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## Joshie (Dec 8, 2008)

If you're a single person and have income of $300/month plus housing, vehicle, etc., you're not likely to qualify for governmental assistance. You don't need TV or Dish. You don't need Internet. Store bought eggs are a lot cheaper than home grown. We had to give ours up because of the expense ($1/bird/week). Internet and TVs are luxuries. Phones are too. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me to pay more than 10 percent on TV and Internet. Do you have a credit card? We needed one to get satellite. 

I think that the best use of your limited funds is to spend it on gasoline to drive to aces of employment in order to get a job and get it quick.


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## jen74145 (Oct 31, 2006)

When I did such work up there, I often found my boss hiring some juvenile with an arrest record long as my arm. It once went up in flames when he started threatening the young women who worked there, self included. Daycares that hired and kept adults who had the patience of a bear with a toothache. I worked with some fantastic people, and some that were... not. When I found a place that had great people, I stayed there almost three years, until we moved out of state for better employment after DH graduated.

Seriously, you walk in speaking decent English and present yourself well, you have a job in Tulsa. Maybe not your dream job, but a job. They start hiring the dregs when no one else applies.

Or, some of my friends/DH's fellow students were supremely lazy and I'm surprised anyone hired them. LOL, I loved them but I saw how they kept their homes.


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## CoonXpress (Sep 20, 2004)

NickieL said:


> Will you be paying the utilities? how will you heat? in winter, monthly utilities for DH and I, with heat set on 68, are at least 300 a month. We are cutting way back this year, we use lanterns instead of lights, no tv, keeping it to 60 in here. You may be able to get help with your utilities I guess.


Utilities will be paid, but will be kept as low as possible.



Dutchie said:


> Here is my 2 cents:
> The Kingston plan just doesn't make sense.


House is sitting empty except for the few times a year when my dad goes there, and we're both ready to take a break from each other.



NickieL said:


> lol could you turn one of the boats into a chicken house?! Sometimes you have to get creative!


Both boats are rotted out too much to do anything with.



Nevada said:


> It's a mobile home, which won't be insulated worth a darn. He'll have to live in one room.
> 
> He's going to boil a lot of beans for sure, but he'll get good at it. Bread & tortillas will be luxuries.


Actually the mobile home is very well insulated, might take a few hours to get to temperature, but once there it holds without the furnace working much



jen74145 said:


> Yeah, TBH I'd head up to Tulsa and pick up restaurant work or retail. They hire anyone.
> 
> Easy enough to net $800/month up there even if you have no formal education. A decent apartment can be had for around $600/month, team up with a couple of roommates (between Spartan and the community college, there are always decent folks needing a place to stay for minimal $). Take advantage of the cheap grocery stores (Aldi's, a Save A Lot, and plenty of other options to do the Walmart Ad Match thing). Can be done, *and* there's a bus system.
> 
> I had girlfriends who made a good bit more than $800 waitressing full time (IHOP, Olive Garden... mid-price places tipped best), especially around the holidays.


Can't do Tulsa, don't know why but I hate that place. Would rather go to NYC, LA or Miami first.


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## Helena (May 10, 2002)

I agree the paid TV would be at the total bottom of my list. Telephone and en the internet ...I would buy one of the pay as you go phones at the store and put $$ on it when I have it. The library has computers to use and I have done that in the past myself. Go to town and shop and make a day of it at the library with the internet, borrowing videos and getting books...$300 a month..is $75 a week to live. Getting extra money along the way would be great but I would plan on the $75 a week a s only money. Get a little battery TV for the videos and do without the electric as mentioned before. Have known many people over the years in these cold winter mountains who have done very well without utilities by choice or need. Look all of the time for scrap wood for heating and cooking. One person living alone can really live very simply.


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## jen74145 (Oct 31, 2006)

Nevada said:


> Not relevant in his case. He doesn't need health insurance under our current system. The one silver lining to being in his situation is that he's completely judgement-proof. If he gets hurt or sick he goes to the ER to get the care he needs. All he needs to do is mail a cease communication demand letter to any bill collectors to stop phone calls, then throw any mailed bills in the trash.


*giggle* Would you please explain that to the hospital that treated my DH after his wreck? I cannot remember the amount of the bill for said small finger cut (police called an ambulance, thought he had to have hurt his back or something; was a rather dramatic wreck) but they had no mercy on the broke kids, for sure. Maybe if we'd had a few babies or something.

We paid it later, when we could, to clean up his credit. You don't want to default, not if you ever intend to buy a home with a good interest rate, a vehicle, or even get a better job. Or, apparently they check your credit when you ask for insurance quotes for your vehicle, so... yeah.

I had catastrophic insurance for $116/month.


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## jen74145 (Oct 31, 2006)

CoonXpress said:


> Utilities will be paid, but will be kept as low as possible.
> 
> 
> House is sitting empty except for the few times a year when my dad goes there, and we're both ready to take a break from each other.
> ...


Don't get me wrong, I hated Tulsa and wouldn't go back unless I had to. But you can live well there on little. 

Might see about OKC? I lived rural for years, but one disaster and you're sunk if you don't have ready cash to fix it. I stayed in the middle of nowhere alone with my baby while DH worked overseas, and still have some issues from being stranded when a chick totalled our car/ the next one kept stalling. I was *all* alone with that baby though, so if you have family I suppose it's different.


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## Catalytic (Sep 15, 2010)

willow_girl said:


> These "trade labor for rent" deals seldom work out to the satisfaction of both parties, in my experience.





willow_girl said:


> These "trade labor for rent" deals seldom work out to the satisfaction of both parties, in my experience.





willow_girl said:


> These "trade labor for rent" deals seldom work out to the satisfaction of both parties, in my experience.


Wanted to quote this a few times, wish I had read it about 8 months ago....

Have a lease. Make sure it spells out everything, for your protection, and your father's.

My situation isn't a relative, but a "friend" and it makes me totally miserable, I cannot wait until the year is over.


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## Guest (Nov 6, 2011)

I buy 10 pounds of flour a month. 5 pounds all purpose, 5 pounds self rising. I can make 4 good size biscuits, 16 times with 5 pounds self rising flour. I get a half gallon of buttermilk a month, to make buttermilk biscuits with. I get a pound of yeast every so often, may last a year, not really sure. with the 5 pounds all purpose flour, I make 10 loaves of bread. The flour cost me $1.90 a bag. so, $3.80 for a months worth. plus $2.50 or so for the buttermilk. I also make whatever pasta I eat with the same bag of flour. I wouldn't think $6.30 per month to have bread and/or pasta at every meal to be overwhelming.


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## Dutchie (Mar 14, 2003)

jen74145 said:


> Seriously, you walk in speaking decent English and present yourself well, you have a job in Tulsa. Maybe not your dream job, but a job.
> 
> .


I agree. And I don't know about you but I have taken plenty of crappy jobs in my life to pay the bills.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

jen74145 said:


> *giggle* Would you please explain that to the hospital that treated my DH after his wreck? I cannot remember the amount of the bill for said small finger cut (police called an ambulance, thought he had to have hurt his back or something; was a rather dramatic wreck) but they had no mercy on the broke kids, for sure. Maybe if we'd had a few babies or something.


There is really nothing the hospital could have done. I'm sure that they threatened to do all sorts of terrible things to you, but the truth is that the debt isn't legal until they get a judgement in a court of law. That might cost them $7000 in legal fees, and even then you could stop it at any time by filing bankruptcy. It's not worth the risk when they can simply write it off their taxes.

In this case he has no assets. Before the lawsuit gets off the ground they will subpoena you for information about your assets. They do that to determine if a lawsuit is worth pursuing. No assets means no lawsuit. Why would they?

But for curiosity, would you mind sharing how much was owed and what they threatened to do if it wasn't paid?



jen74145 said:


> We paid it later, when we could, to clean up his credit. You don't want to default, not if you ever intend to buy a home with a good interest rate, a vehicle, or even get a better job. Or, apparently they check your credit when you ask for insurance quotes for your vehicle, so... yeah.


Yes, they can put it on your credit report. But there are a few things to consider about credit. First, you might be surprised at how much credit people with defaults, and even bankruptcy, on their records are able to get. Then there's the fact that banks aren't lending right now, not even to people with good credit. It could be that by the time we work our way through this recession that the default will already be gone. Finally, if you got to that point it's a good bet that the default was already on your credit report.


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## Dutchie (Mar 14, 2003)

CoonXpress said:


> House is sitting empty except for the few times a year when my dad goes there, and we're both ready to take a break from each other. I don't know how old you are but if you are over 21 and not in school you should be living on your own and supporting yourself.


Well, Kingston isn't the answer. You will have a place to live but nothing else. Stay in OKC and get a real job.



> Can't do Tulsa, don't know why but I hate that place. Would rather go to NYC, LA or Miami first.


I'd rather be in the south of France right now. Can't get everything you want and if it was easy everybody be doing it.

I am beginning to get the idea that no matter what suggestions, advise and ideas you are presented with, you will always have a reason why it wouldn't work.


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## ajaxlucy (Jul 18, 2004)

Since you wouldn't be moving there until spring, it would be a good idea to practice living off of $300/week this winter, including buying all your gas and groceries and doing your own cooking. See how much money that costs you to get a better idea of how much you'll have leftover for things like Netflix.


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## jen74145 (Oct 31, 2006)

Nevada said:


> But for curiosity, would you mind sharing how much was owed and what they threatened to do if it wasn't paid?


It's not that the big scary hospital scared us; it's when we went to buy a home and we had to pay XYZ to get our credit scores high enough that anyone would loan to us. *shrug* When my DH was getting special clearances at work, men who had poor credit because of things like medical bills and unpaid insurance claims did not get the clearances that brought significantly more pay with them.

We worked with a credit repair agency later to get all the minor credit checks and whatnot taken care of. Helped immensely. 

Honestly, ****, and please don't take offense but hear me here. Living off a parent when you are grown, and moving to the sticks to do so, is going to curtail your independence and impact your relationship severely. Even when folks pay their way entirely and even do work on top of the $, living in a family member's home works out almost never, as I have seen.


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## Ravenlost (Jul 20, 2004)

NickieL said:


> lol could you turn one of the boats into a chicken house?! Sometimes you have to get creative!


Ain't that the truth! My chickens survived a cold snowy winter last year in a coop made out of a large cardboard box with a leaky kiddie pool for a roof!

Craigslist needs to be your best friend. I got my two hens, rooster, one of my ducks (lays the best eggs) and my rabbit for free off Craigslist. People give away all sorts of stuff...fencing materials, kitchen and household goods, furniture, blankets, FOOD, etc. 

The first thing I would do is get chickens. And they'd be living in a boat coop!


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## CoonXpress (Sep 20, 2004)

HermitJohn said:


> Reality check. Just to insure one vehicle if you have good credit and arent under 25 is going to take a goodly percentage of your yearly 3600. If you are under 25 and dont have good credit rating or if you want to pay monthly rather than six months at a time..... Then there is FUEL. $3 to $4 gasoline can eat lot cash unless you just need to go to town once a month... Even then the insurance is just as high whether you drive 1000 miles a year or 100,000 miles a year...
> 
> Broadband and satellite tv are pretty much luxury. If you have a Sprint network tower close you can get a Boost Mobile pay as you go telephone. Its flat 35cents a day for slow data network which you can tether to a laptop or desktop computer. Its SLOW but you can do email and light browsing without much problem. You arent going to stream anything, but ... And you also have telephone connection for 10cents a minute. Its good deal if you make few telephone calls.
> 
> ...


I'll be responsible for gas, maintenance and minor repairs.
Also the $50/month that is set aside for firearm/freezer/tiller/and other things, will be used for emergency repairs.
Already know from experience about driving all over the place down there. So trips will be made weekly, if not longer apart.

How big of a freezer do you have?


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## Pelenaka (Jul 27, 2007)

*Won't be able to glean anything, only cattle or pecan groves in the area.*

@ the risk of blowing both our monthly budgets on a bail bondsman I won't mention the cattle but if I was closer I would so barter you for pecans. Pie, whole wheat bread, laundry, haircut, canned goods, maybe even cash. 
Ah well ...

I bet shelled pecans would make a nice Christmas gifts, ask on freecycle for good cookie tins and tissue paper.

~~ pelenaka ~~


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## stormwalker (Oct 27, 2004)

Dutchie said:


> Well, Kingston isn't the answer. You will have a place to live but nothing else. Stay in OKC and get a real job.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


LOL!!!
It makes you wonder why he even asked!


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## Dutchie (Mar 14, 2003)

stormwalker said:


> LOL!!!
> It makes you wonder why he even asked!


Seriously.


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## bluemoonluck (Oct 28, 2008)

I suggest you go visit this house, if you haven't already done so. See it in the condition its in today with your own eyes. 

You're banking on the backyard being a veggie garden, so take a look at the soil and figure out how realistic that is. Does it need compost added to it? It is rocky? How is the drainage? Is the local wildlife going to eat all your hard work? 

Go to the local grocery stores and find the prices for the food items you're planning on buying. Figure out how much groceries are going to cost you there, compared to what you're paying for groceries now.

Check the local gas stations and see what they are charging for gas there....compare this to what you're paying for gas now.

Go to the local vehicle service stations and see how much they charge for routine maintenance of a vehicle....how much they sell tires for, etc. Again, compare this to what you're paying now.

I've found that small town stores/shops tend to charge more for a lot of essentials, because there's no competition. You may be surprised at how much more expensive your "needs" are going to be in this new area.


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## Mid Tn Mama (May 11, 2002)

If it were me (and it's not) I'd wait a bit on the firearm and mantis tiller) I'd look towards dishes that stretch the meat you buy. Also can you barter services with someone raising meat (say, help fix fence for them...)I would save that money each month because you need an emergency fund and you will eventually need to buy a vehicle.

I'd wait to buy a cell phone until you are there. Find out if you can buy one of those prepaid minute phones from the dollar general.

I'd wait on buying chickens until you are employed. Not only are there expenses with their housing, feed is expensive and outpaces what you get in eggs.

I'd hop-to on the garden right away. First year, I'd do without tilling, but rather created a no-till lasagna garden. Start your seedlings yourself using the winter seed sowing method with recycled milk jugs etc as mini greenhouses. Much less chance of getting damping off disease as you would starting them indoors. Seedlings will work in a lasagna garden. If need be, fill the hole (only) with good soil/compost and let the lasagna compost and worms till your soil for you. Slower method--but it works.

Save your water for the garden. No sense in trying to grow your own food, then spend on water. I'd make trellis going up the sunny side of your trailer and over the top to keep things cool in the summer.

If you are going to fish alot: save the trimmings for your cat (need one for mouse with a mobile home) and your garden plantings. Native americans planted fish heads in the hole before they planted to fertilize.
-------------------
As for the food budget: Check out the Tightwad Tips thread for lots of ideas. Also the Hillbilly Housewifes emergency food plan. Its for a family, but you get the idea. Buy only what is on sale, stock up when there are sales. http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/40dollarmenu.htm

Forget the seed catalogues. Get to know the nearest feed store and buy the big packages of seed for $3--it will work locally and you wont' ahve postage expense. You can save seed from "heirloom" tomatoes from the grocery store. Heck, lots of dollar store seed is "heirloom" and will come back true every year. Get to know your neighbors or strike up conversations with people locally with gardens. Ask advice and I'll bet they'll throw some seed your way.
------------------
I agree with kasiloffhome's pantry list and suggestions. I recommend oats for breakfast. You can buy a huge bag at the feed store--just pick out anything that isn't sposed to be there. I've heard it's fine! Same with grinding corn from feed store dried corn feed. Make hoecakes and cornbread.

I agree that internet is more important than tv, because you will be researching the homesteading skills/recipes/animal care/gardening tips--and those could save you money.

My thought is that unless you have savings you should not plan ANY entertainment that costs $$$$. There are a lot of fun things to do for entertainment that are free. Fishing should be your entertainment.

I also agree with Chewie's idea for washing your clothes in a bucket and hanging out to dry. Let the sun work for you. I'd drill a couple of holes in the plunger, though to make it easier to do.


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## TxHorseMom (Feb 21, 2011)

What about electric and water? Gas?


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## Catalytic (Sep 15, 2010)

Reading this thread is sorta like trying to prepare my "know it all" teens for real life. Oh well, they'll all learn the hard way, I suspect.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

Catalytic said:


> Reading this thread is sorta like trying to prepare my "know it all" teens for real life.


I recommend that you put them in charge now, while they still know everything.


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## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

You do not need net flix, so that is 20 bucks in your pocket. You do not need internet, satalite tv, or the monthy phone plan. Buy a trak phone that offers free double minutes for the life of the phone. I paid $15 for the track phone and get free double minutes plus additional free minutes from trak phone coupons.

Shop yard sales and church thrift shops for clothes. Good will and salvation army are too exensive for clothes.


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## NickieL (Jun 15, 2007)

yeah, you will find after a while, you don't even miss tv. I haven't watched tv going on 9-10 years now. Once in a while I will see something on HULU, when I'm sitting still mending or sewing but other then that, nada. Don't miss it. Get a good weather radio for emergencies. Don't go cheep on that, believe me. I've learned my lesson on that one. IF you are living partly off the land (and if living off 300 a month you will be doing that...) you will find that you won't have much time to sit and watch tv anyway. When you do get to stop moving for the day, you will zonk out almost instantly. You won't miss it at all. You will spend LOTS of time weeding, growing, foraging, hunting and in your case, constructing/repairing the place you are at. Not to mention cooking from scratch takes a lot of time out of the day, believe it or not. If you are washing clothes by hand, yes, that takes plenty of time too. If you get a bike and ride to town for errends, that too takes time out of your day.

I'm not trying to discourage you, I'm just trying to be frank with you. Surviving on so little is not always easy.

There are other ways of making a few bucks though, too:

growing extra spring plants and selling them (like tomatoes and peppers)
growing extra veggies and selling the extra harvesting
foraging for moral mushrooms and selling them
mowing peoples lawns
pet sitting/ farm animal sitting
turning in junk metal for cash
making birdhouses/feeders/ yard decorations to sell from scrap wood
making yard art from "junk"
referbishing curbside furnature that people toss out and selling.


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## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

CoonXpress said:


> Utilities will be paid, but will be kept as low as possible.
> 
> 
> House is sitting empty except for the few times a year when my dad goes there, and we're both ready to take a break from each other.
> ...


Dont even bother coming to NYC unless you plan to live on a subway bench or in a van. Rents here are through the roof and the cost of living is very high. I struggle to survive here. You can find minimum wage jobs here but you can not survive on them like you can in other parts of america. 

If I did not rent from family here in NYC, I would ether be forced to leave or I would be homeless. Public houseing cost 33% of your income and if you do not end up killed there then you are lucky.


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## NickieL (Jun 15, 2007)

heck, even the ghetto that is gary indiana, you can't rent anything less then 600, and when you do find that one that cheap, its usually trashed and falling down.


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## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

Rents in the nyc ghetto are about $1,300. That is not public housing. public housing is 33% of you income, welfare, or social security. So, someone bringing in $300 a month would pay $99 a month to live in the Projects (that is what we call public housing here, the Projects

A place in the ghetto may be trashed, worn out with broken windows. Public housing is hit or miss, some areas are so bad you have to climb over garbage in the halls and then some places are actually pretty nice and appealing.


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## EarlsNan (Apr 21, 2007)

OK No one is commenting on what I think is obvious. Housing, utilities, cell, vehicle plus tags and insurance are all being paid PLUS he's being given $300/month to 'live' on. How can you NOT manage on that???


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## Guest (Nov 7, 2011)

I think a whole lot of people have acclimated themselves to their own schedule of expenditures and find it inconceivable that anyone could get by on less.


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## pamda (Oct 14, 2004)

If all the stuff he listed is already paid, this person will be ok. And he will survive fine. Remember, at one time we were young and knew it all, I won't offer advice because it isn't really going to help, he has to do it his way and either be ok or not. Even if he asked, he really doesn't want to hear he can't do it his way. So, as I tell my kids, go forward aand try, how do you know what works before you try?


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## Joshie (Dec 8, 2008)

CoonXpress said:


> No kids, did thought about getting a dog, but that'll be more expensive than kids.
> 
> 
> Single white male = ineligible for food stamps
> ...


There's no way a guy making $15/hr full time would get $400 in food stamps. Heck, before my commercial disability insurance started paying we got the max amount of food stamps. For our family, we received about $400. That was the max possible.

Seems to me that your focus should not be how to live on $300; it should be on getting a job.


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## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

Pamda, it is kind of funny, many of us are older and we still think we know it all. Funny how things rarely change.


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## Joshie (Dec 8, 2008)

Nevada said:


> Not relevant in his case. He doesn't need health insurance under our current system. The one silver lining to being in his situation is that he's completely judgement-proof. If he gets hurt or sick he goes to the ER to get the care he needs. All he needs to do is mail a cease communication demand letter to any bill collectors to stop phone calls, then throw any mailed bills in the trash.


Now, that's not honorable. It's also a bad thing to do if you ever intend to buy anything with credit such as a home.


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## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

If all the expenses are being paid, then $300 is way more then enough to survive.
You will not be living like most of the spend-maniacs that you will be surrounded by, and you will be living frugal, but this could be a good chance for you to find yourself.

If I was you I would stay at my dad's place for a year, do the work he wants done, use the time in solitude and work to think about your life and where you want to go in life, and then try to save half of that $300 a month for the future. At the end of the year, if you do a good job, maybe your dad will rent the place to you for a low rent, or ask you to stay on for another year to do some more work on the place and to act as a gaurd for the land. But, if not, then at least you had a place to live for the year, some work, and if you saved half of that $300 a month, $1,800 in your pocket to help you make a new start in the next leg of your life journey.


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## NickieL (Jun 15, 2007)

Joshie said:


> Now, that's not honorable. It's also a bad thing to do if you ever intend to buy anything with credit such as a home.


Not only THAT, but it effects those he chose not to pay for the service too, because of things like this, I've lost a lot of co-workers this year because a hospital can't run on air, it DOES take money....


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## Joshie (Dec 8, 2008)

CoonXpress said:


> Can't do Tulsa, don't know why but I hate that place. Would rather go to NYC, LA or Miami first.


Hate is a luxury you cannot afford. Better to live in a place where you can find a job (certainly not NY, LA or Miami) than to live off someone else's money.

There should be no such thing as being unemployed. Your full time job should be to find a job.


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## Hazmat54 (Aug 10, 2010)

Some of you people are pretty harsh. He stated in the original post what his situation was. The 'given' in his equation. How to frugally live on the $300 each month. Telling him he should not rely on family. Telling him to move somewhere else. Ok, I know the south of France comment was a joke. Asking why he asked, if he was going to ignore what he heard. He ignored the people that ignored reading the basic situation he is dealing with.

Just starting to be frugal myself. Eat rice. Dried beans take far too much energy to cook. Get a rice cooker with a steamer section above. The waste heat from the rice cooking steams the vegetables or meat in the steamer section. Cut the meat and veggies small and thin. I like small electrics. The energy is concentrated on the food you are cooking, not heating the air.


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## TedH71 (Jan 19, 2003)

Sounds like he's made up his mind not to work in Tulsa. Too bad. I've been to Tulsa and it's one of the few towns in Oklahoma that I've considered moving to. If he had cnc machinist skills, he would be making $15 an hour at an entry level job then in a year he would be making $18-20 an hour. Kinda hard to be homeless on that. I've been on food stamps before when I was a poor single white guy. I brought home less than $200 in FS money. I was able to survive on it. Was temporary though.


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## pamda (Oct 14, 2004)

City Bound said:


> Pamda, it is kind of funny, many of us are older and we still think we know it all. Funny how things rarely change.


Ain't that the truth? lol


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## pamda (Oct 14, 2004)

Right now I would give anything to have 300.00 a month income. This not wotking is wearing me out with worry. I can't find anything that pays over 8.00 an hour and I have a degree. Am going out Tuesday and taking the first job I find (that I am offered) over 8.00.This includes flipping burgers. I am working my resume over and giving myself and makeover and am planning. Positive I can find the job I need. I have my home and bills paid, but we are coming up short every month on things we need. My hubby cannot do without full on sat tv and the football and bb games that cost. A Lot. I have lived on very small amounts of cash and can and will do without. But he won't so I have to do what I can to help keep food and stuff coming in. 
He can do it and will be ok. It's a challenge and to me anyway, a challenge keeps things interesting.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

Joshie said:


> Nevada said:
> 
> 
> > Not relevant in his case. He doesn't need health insurance under our current system. The one silver lining to being in his situation is that he's completely judgement-proof. If he gets hurt or sick he goes to the ER to get the care he needs. All he needs to do is mail a cease communication demand letter to any bill collectors to stop phone calls, then throw any mailed bills in the trash.
> ...


Honorable or not, that's the reality with a $300/month budget. There's no money for healthcare insurance, and there's no money for medical bills.


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## City Bound (Jan 24, 2009)

Joshie said:


> Hate is a luxury you cannot afford. Better to live in a place where you can find a job (certainly not NY, LA or Miami) than to live off someone else's money.
> 
> There should be no such thing as being unemployed. Your full time job should be to find a job.


It is not fare to say that he would be living off of someone else's money, because he wouldn't, he would be working for his dad and living in the place while he did the work.

having two decks built is expensive, and if his dad was paying some strangers to build it they would charge him at least two grand for labor.
Other then the doing the decks he is going to restore the house and property in other ways. This sounds like a fare deal for both people and I do not consider it mooching or being lazy because the amount of money he would be getting is what the work is worth and having him in the house to watch over it and protect it for a year is another service that people pay money to strangers to do. So, if his dad pays his son to the do the work and to watch the place, rather then paying some stranger or an illegal alien, then all around the deal is wholesome. Even if his dad pays him slightly more then a stranger, so what, that is what family is for, they help each other out. One day it will be his dad's turn to receive good will and care from his son.


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## siberian (Aug 23, 2011)

Just wondering what your intentions and ideas where. Read alot of comments, many I feel were very solid. Anyway, what are your ideas? You seem to have a grip on the situation , from looking at your replies.


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## Freya (Dec 3, 2005)

OK what popped out at me is that there is *no way* that dish/direct tv/cable will be lower than the $20 Netflix a month! Plus you have to sign long term contracts. So if you cannot force yourself to give up tv... just keep the Netflix and save yourself the money. 



How much do you normally pay/eat a month now? Do you have "practice" eating super cheap? Any stock or will you have to start totally from scratch with nothing, not even spices/salt? Do you know the local food stores yet?



Will you have any furniture or a bed?


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## Shygal (May 26, 2003)

EarlsNan said:


> OK No one is commenting on what I think is obvious. Housing, utilities, cell, vehicle plus tags and insurance are all being paid PLUS he's being given $300/month to 'live' on. How can you NOT manage on that???


Because if you live 25-50 miles away from any store, or potential work, gas will eat up a lot of that expense. Then theres that pesky little "food" thing which eats up a lot of that as well.

Add some clothing in, expenses related to hunting and fishing, licenses, seeds, supplies for any kind of homestead related activity, gas for a chain saw, it will go pretty fast.

75 dollars a week for all "living" expenses isnt as much as a lot of you seem to think it is. It goes faster than you think


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## Shygal (May 26, 2003)

pamda said:


> Right now I would give anything to have 300.00 a month income. This not wotking is wearing me out with worry. I can't find anything that pays over 8.00 an hour and I have a degree. Am going out Tuesday and taking the first job I find (that I am offered) over 8.00.This includes flipping burgers. I am working my resume over and giving myself and makeover and am planning. Positive I can find the job I need. I have my home and bills paid, but we are coming up short every month on things we need. My hubby cannot do without full on sat tv and the football and bb games that cost. A Lot. I have lived on very small amounts of cash and can and will do without. But he won't so I have to do what I can to help keep food and stuff coming in.
> He can do it and will be ok. It's a challenge and to me anyway, a challenge keeps things interesting.


your husband knows you are wearing yourself out with worry, and STILL will not give up full satellite tv and football and basketball games?  I think its time to make HIM get a second job to pay for that stuff, if he insists on it, thats not cheap.


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## Wendy (May 10, 2002)

Shygal said:


> your husband knows you are wearing yourself out with worry, and STILL will not give up full satellite tv and football and basketball games?  I think its time to make HIM get a second job to pay for that stuff, if he insists on it, thats not cheap.


I was thinking the same thing!:hrm:


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## sashay (Apr 28, 2005)

ME TOO!! 

Actually I was thinking that I would divorce that guy (or kill him in his sleep) and it was SO SO SO SO much easier being single.

Sorry Padma.


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## big rockpile (Feb 24, 2003)

Ok I would Get like Ford Ranger or Chevy S10 older one for around $1,000.Pay as you go Cell Phone.Ditch Computer,Netflix and all.20Ga. Shotgun with Poly Choke or Tubes is all you need for anything.I would think cheap Mossberg.Work what Garden you need by hand,no Tiller.Do what work needs to be done on Trailer by Priorities,Decks are not Top Priority.Go to Habitat for Humanity Salvage for material.

As far as making extra check about cleaning Fence rows,get double Pay by making money on the work and Firewood for sale.Clean up after Loggers.Put adds in Free Paper for Cleanup on Scrap Metal,clean up and sell.Do House Cleaning,try to find Realtor and Renter that needs Clean Up on properties.See if you can find someone that needs Winter Farm Help.

big rockpile


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

I haven't read all of the pages yet, but, CoonXpress you do not need a mantis tiller for a 100 square foot garden. That is 10' by 10': you can just stir the soil with a hoe after every rain and the weeds will stay gone.

You might break a leg or have an unexpected expense. Put some money in the bank!

In the mean time, happy hunting/fishing! It sounds like fun!


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## ceresone (Oct 7, 2005)

LOL--read all the posts--Rocks struck home--reminded me of the song "A Country Boy Will Survive"--but first, you HAVE TO BE a country boy--and then you understand what it means to "survive" Doubt there were many the OP mentioned that the country boy would consider survival necessities, more "I want".


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## Oak Leaf (Sep 14, 2011)

You are living with your Dad right now? And need to put distance between you but this move isn't until next spring? I think it may be _a very long winter_ for you guys. I would be worried the offer wouldn't be there come next spring.


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

CoonXpress said:


> Big question is, how to live on the $300/month?
> Known monthly expenses so far, in order of importance;
> 
> 
> ...


OK, now I have read all 4 pages. As for a middle aged broad who has seen unemployement, illness, and 3 recessions this is my take on the matter.

Avoid most of the above. This is why.

Anything that you buy-and I do mean ANYTHING-needs to show you a profit in cold, hard cash. Most of the above simply will not show you a cash profit within a years time, and chances are you will decide to move in a years time!

An inexpensive freezer will cost what, $400 TOTAL if bought new? Will it pay you $35 a month? Remember that you have a small freezer with every refridgerator that can be used for game *IF* you take the meat off of the bone to make things fit. Most people use the small freezer for things like ice cream but with a budget that tight I would reserve it for game. BONELESS game! If you get something large like a deer then most of it should still fit, and the remainder of the meat might make jerky if you first soak it in soy and in pepper.

Put the freezer money in the bank and if things change so that having a freezer WLL pay you enough cash, THEN you buy the freezer!

Do not order seeds out of a catalog: ask the Dollar store if they sell seeds in the spring. Make those do, even if they do not sell, for example, yellow green bean seeds and you love them.

As I stated before you do not need a mantis tiller: use a hoe after every rain and the weeds will not survive their infancy.

A firearm. You MIGHT find that a cost effective purchase. That is assuming that the one that you have flat out will not work for hunting. And, if you DO buy a new gun, then expect to try to shoot the guns worth of meat that year, or more. You will owe it to yourself to go hunting.

Vehicle maintanance: in my opinion that is too low. I would double it. Flat tires happen, and the vehicle will still need an oil change, windsheild fluid, and whatever!

DSL & Netflix. Don't! Not until you have scoped out what is available. Does this town have Redbox or Bluebox? I would try to keep the internet if I could, but you are about to have almost no free time! Your Father will expect you to be working full-time on the trailer, and in your spare time you will be hunting and gardening. 

You will not have the TIME to be watching much electronic entertainment! When you are tired and your hands hurt and you have something baking in the oven, you will want to watch a show, but by the time the food is eaten and the dishes are done you will not WANT! to stay up late. So, give it a couple of weeks in your new digs before you shop for entertainment. Look around town. Do they have a redbox? A library that will fill requestd books? Something else?????

And, THIS is why you need to be far more frugal that you want to be! You are going to want to move in a year's time, and you will need a first and last months and ssecurity deposit. That will be what, $1500 to $2500 for an inexpensive place??????

This recession will NOT! last forever, and this is only a temporary gig for you. You cannot count on finding other work right now as jobs are VERY hard to find. But, this recession will not last forever and then you will see a really GOOD job offer that you want to apply for, probably in a city, and you will want to jump on it. At that time, if you get it, you will NEED the money for new digs! Anmd, if you have been spending it on luxuries like mail-order seeds instead of dollar store seeds, you simply will not have it. So, put the money in the wallet or the bank, and spend as little as you can. Purchases like guns need to pay you back the purchase price within one year.

Basically, if you live on $125 a month then you will have the money to move to a new job when you find one. If not, then you will be stuck in the trailer living on a very small amount of money.

$125 a month will feed you very well indeed if you cook. If the hunting and gardening goes well you might even eat well on less, and that is good because you will be driving longer distances as you will be living in the sticks. And, you will need to find a cheap source of clothing.

An advice from an old broad? Decide what you will cook and set the meat out to thaw first thing in the morning. When you come in bone tired a freezer full of fozen meat is a daunting sight! Spend as little as possible on living expenses, so that when your ship comes in you can affort to travel to go and GET it!!!!!!!!


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## NickieL (Jun 15, 2007)

Everything what Terri said, especially waiting on the entertainment stuff...

Seriously, working on the trailer will be a full time job, and working on the garden and hunting and cooking will be a second full time job...you will want to sleep when you are done, believe me. BEEN THERE DONE THAT. I've been a lot worse off then I am now in te past. You simply will not have time to watch your favorite shows. You'll zonk out as soon as you sit down.


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## snoozy (May 10, 2002)

If you didn't watch TV, you'd have the time and the spirit to figure out a better way to live. Watching TV makes you passive, and occupies your mind so that you do not figure out strategies to improve your life.


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## CoonXpress (Sep 20, 2004)

bluemoonluck said:


> I suggest you go visit this house, if you haven't already done so. See it in the condition its in today with your own eyes.
> 
> You're banking on the backyard being a veggie garden, so take a look at the soil and figure out how realistic that is. Does it need compost added to it? It is rocky? How is the drainage? Is the local wildlife going to eat all your hard work?
> 
> ...


Last went back in the spring and will be going back in a few weeks.

Not banking on a large garden, will be lucky for a 100ftÂ² raised bed, looking to supplement store bought items or items that isn't locally found. Will be able to fence in the area
Will be be doing price checking while there. 

Gas there is 10Â¢ higher there than here at the moment.



Mid Tn Mama said:


> If it were me (and it's not) I'd wait a bit on the firearm and mantis tiller) I'd look towards dishes that stretch the meat you buy. Also can you barter services with someone raising meat (say, help fix fence for them...)I would save that money each month because you need an emergency fund and you will eventually need to buy a vehicle.
> 
> I'd wait on buying chickens until you are employed. Not only are there expenses with their housing, feed is expensive and outpaces what you get in eggs.
> 
> ...


Been learning Japanese and Chinese cooking, and it does help stretch the meat out.
Will be keeping an eye out for small scale producers.
As for the chickens, they will be a later project, if possible.
Would love to jump in with a large garden, but the soil needs a lot of work done to it, most of the topsoil was hauled off when the area was developed.
But will have access to a bunch of leaves and manure, and will be seriously working on the compost pile.
Heirlooms is my preferred plant type.
Gutters and a small cistern is being planned for.
No cat, hate them and the bobcats there love them.




TxHorseMom said:


> What about electric and water? Gas?


Utilities will be paid for.



City Bound said:


> You do not need net flix, so that is 20 bucks in your pocket. You do not need internet, satalite tv, or the monthy phone plan. Buy a trak phone that offers free double minutes for the life of the phone. I paid $15 for the track phone and get free double minutes plus additional free minutes from trak phone coupons.
> 
> Shop yard sales and church thrift shops for clothes. Good will and salvation army are too exensive for clothes.


Actually it's a choice of Netflix for me or Dish Network for my dad, when he goes down there. $20/month Netflix is still cheaper than $25/month+ for satellite, plus I'd watch the Netflix. Cell phone will be provided.



NickieL said:


> yeah, you will find after a while, you don't even miss tv. I haven't watched tv going on 9-10 years now. Once in a while I will see something on HULU, when I'm sitting still mending or sewing but other then that, nada. Don't miss it. Get a good weather radio for emergencies. Don't go cheep on that, believe me. I've learned my lesson on that one. IF you are living partly off the land (and if living off 300 a month you will be doing that...) you will find that you won't have much time to sit and watch tv anyway. When you do get to stop moving for the day, you will zonk out almost instantly. You won't miss it at all. You will spend LOTS of time weeding, growing, foraging, hunting and in your case, constructing/repairing the place you are at. Not to mention cooking from scratch takes a lot of time out of the day, believe it or not. If you are washing clothes by hand, yes, that takes plenty of time too. If you get a bike and ride to town for errends, that too takes time out of your day.
> 
> I'm not trying to discourage you, I'm just trying to be frank with you. Surviving on so little is not always easy.
> 
> ...


I live in Oklahoma, who doesn't have a weather radio here? Will need to get one with the SAME alert though.
Do have a bike, but I'd feel safer playing in rush hour traffic then riding it to town there.
Haven't tried hunting for morels down there.
Have thought about doing yard work down there, but would have to undercut the  illegals.
Birdhouses & feeders is a possibility. Have some supplies from a project that didn't work out.


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## Just Little Me (Aug 9, 2007)

Stupid question, but a question anyway. Are you collecting things NOW? You could be doing freecycle and Craigslist now and by the time to move, have more than you need. I know the lists pop right after the holidays with things people get and do not want.
Talk to people, they will share seeds with you. Get on a garden site and see what people will trade for. 
I kept a family of 4 going for a year on less than you will be living on. And you have time NOW to start stocking up.


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## Pony (Jan 6, 2003)

Don't know if anyone mentioned this, but hulu.com has plenty of great movies and old tv shows, and it's free.

That'll save you the netflix $$.


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## Jonathan (Oct 26, 2011)

pamda said:


> Right now I would give anything to have 300.00 a month income. This not wotking is wearing me out with worry. I can't find anything that pays over 8.00 an hour and I have a degree.


These statements seem to be contradictory. A part time job (20 hour) at $8/hr should easily net you more than $300 after taxes.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

Terri said:


> This recession will NOT! last forever, and this is only a temporary gig for you.


It won't last forever, but it could last beyond the foreseeable future. I wouldn't count on this passing as if it were a typical cyclic correction. It's going to take time for this recession to resolve.

I had hoped that the economy would bottom this year, but I didn't count on the European situation being handled as badly as it was. The worst could still be ahead of us. Unfortunately there's not a lot the US government can do to change that.

As far as how long, I don't believe that another 10 years is out of the question. After all, the Great Depression lasted 12 years if you time it from the 1929 stock market crash to the beginning of WWII. We're only about 3 years into this recession.


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## Guest (Nov 7, 2011)

If you look at some charts, you'll see that national debt and real inflation has gone parabolic. The kindest thing anybody can say about that is "This is very, very, very, very bad"


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

zong said:


> If you look at some charts, you'll see that national debt and real inflation has gone parabolic. The kindest thing anybody can say about that is "This is very, very, very, very bad"


Like it or don't, increased debt, government spending, and even increased taxation are necessary components of recovery. Let's not forget that the Great Depression was resolved with WWII wartime prosperity, characterized by unprecedented government spending and fueled by a new income tax (the Victory Tax, which evolved into our current income tax system).


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

Nevada said:


> Like it or don't, increased debt, government spending, and even increased taxation are necessary components of recovery. Let's not forget that the Great Depression was resolved with WWII wartime prosperity, characterized by unprecedented government spending and fueled by a new income tax (the Victory Tax, which evolved into our current income tax system).


And if you will look closely, we never really "recovered" from the great depression... any more than putting a bandaid on cancer cures it. It was an artificial recovery based on smoke and mirrors and illusions. Sure, most folks lived better... but that was due to inflationary borrowing and spending. That pyramid scheme was bound to tumble at some point... my grandparents warned me about it all the time I was growing up as they kept telling me... "payback is coming someday.... and its going to be ugly" and they were right!


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## Guest (Nov 7, 2011)

Nevada said:


> Like it or don't, increased debt, government spending, and even increased taxation are necessary components of recovery. Let's not forget that the Great Depression was resolved with WWII wartime prosperity, *characterized by unprecedented government spending and fueled by a new income tax (the Victory Tax, which evolved into our current income tax system).*





Nevada said:


> There is nothing, I repeat NOTHING, that the government can do to resolve this recession;............


Can't make up this. completely opposing views, in only 9 minutes


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

Yvonne's hubby said:


> And if you will look closely, we never really "recovered" from the great depression... any more than putting a bandaid on cancer cures it.


It was not only a recovery, it was a robust recovery that provided us with 70 years of prosperity. The systemic protections put in place to prevent a similar event likewise protected us for those same 70 years. It was only after those protections were removed that history repeated itself. Are you really surprised? We threw it all away for the Bush-era real estate bubble.

Living without those protections will almost certainly doom our grandchildren to another prolonged depression. So why don't we put those protections back in place? Because all the right people will get richer if we don't. Is it really worth it?


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

Nevada said:


> It was not only a recovery, it was a robust recovery that provided us with 70 years of prosperity. The systemic protections put in place to prevent a similar event likewise protected us for those same 70 years. It was only after those protections were removed that history repeated itself. Are you really surprised? We threw it all away for the Bush-era real estate bubble.
> 
> Living without those protections will almost certainly doom our grandchildren to another prolonged depression. So why don't we put those protections back in place? Because all the right people will get richer if we don't. Is it really worth it?


If you call going deeper into debt each and every year is a "robust economy".... I have little hope of getting you to understand the real issues we face. As to your systematic protections being removed comment... yep, thanks to the Clinton administration many of them were legislated off the books. Try as he may... Bush could not muster enough support to put them back! Dodd, Frank, and Obama fought tooth and nail, and side by side with ACORN to keep things the way they liked them.


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## nodak3 (Feb 5, 2003)

Whatever your political flavor and assessment of the recession, one thing is sure:

the net, satellite tv, or netflix, cell phones, in fact even phones at all, are actually luxuries.

I would humbly--very humbly--suggest to the OP to stop worrying about toys and start living. Less time being entertained and more time working.

But then again, I'm thinking of the guys that have hitchhiked or scrimped for a bus ticket to get to Williston and actually work for a living.

And I'm thinking of my neighbor, raising 4 disabled kids plus supporting his wife and they took in her mom who is alzheimer's and in poor health. All with no high school education.

They clean repo's for hud and do any odd job they can for anyone. No time for tv or the net or being "entertained" but man oh man they are making good money during these hard times.

Rather than figure out how to live on $300 a month I'd be figuring out how to double, triple, or quadruple that--and all without a steady job.


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

Nevada said:


> I had hoped that the economy would bottom this year, but I didn't count on the European situation being handled as badly as it was. The worst could still be ahead of us. Unfortunately there's not a lot the US government can do to change that.


Not this year, and probably not next year either. We have another financial hurdle to deal with soon.

I disagree with one statement, that the government cannot do a lot about it. Yes, yes they can. But the two sides main focus right now is staying in power, which means discrediting the other side. That also means that if any one person wants to do something USEFULL about the recession, then the other side will immediately try to stop it.

I watched this recession get built, brick by brick. It could have been a very weak recession, and the one reason it is not is because of a power struggle, not because they did not know how. This is not my first recession, and the politicians are mostly my age!

Rant off! :soap:


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

Yvonne's hubby said:


> If you call going deeper into debt each and every year is a "robust economy".... I have little hope of getting you to understand the real issues we face. As to your systematic protections being removed comment... yep, thanks to the Clinton administration many of them were legislated off the books. Try as he may... Bush could not muster enough support to put them back! Dodd, Frank, and Obama fought tooth and nail, and side by side with ACORN to keep things the way they liked them.


You watch too much FoxNews. You need to study the problem objectively.


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## Shygal (May 26, 2003)

Well here goes this thread.......


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

Shygal said:


> Well here goes this thread.......


I really wish we could discuss the economy without politics getting in the way. The problem with trying to deflect blame away from certain political leaders is that a warped sense of what has happened results. Understanding the problem is a large part of solving it. Denial isn't going to get us anywhere.


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

Nevada said:


> I really wish we could discuss the economy without politics getting in the way. The problem with trying to deflect blame away from certain political leaders is that a warped sense of what has happened results. Understanding the problem is a large part of solving it. Denial isn't going to get us anywhere.


Again, politics are why we are in this mess. As Warren Buffet said, if politicians were forbidden to be re elected if they did not balance the budget, then the budget would be balanced in only 5 minutes!
...
now, if you want to discuss the recession WITHOUT the politics, then I will say that the federal debt is causing as big a bubble as the price of real estate. And, that bubble is going to pop, and it will pop within the next year or two.

In my own opinion, the feds will try to inflate their troubles away. They have done this many times over the decades, they are familiar with it and comfortable with it. So, make sure that if you have a mortgage that it is a fixed one!


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## Txrider (Jun 25, 2010)

Nevada said:


> It was not only a recovery, it was a robust recovery that provided us with 70 years of prosperity. The systemic protections put in place to prevent a similar event likewise protected us for those same 70 years. It was only after those protections were removed that history repeated itself. Are you really surprised? We threw it all away for the Bush-era real estate bubble.
> 
> Living without those protections will almost certainly doom our grandchildren to another prolonged depression. So why don't we put those protections back in place? Because all the right people will get richer if we don't. Is it really worth it?


As far as I am concerned the real underlying issue is that since the mid 70's we went from lender nation with a trade surplus to a debtor nation with a trade deficit. We are still diving farther and farther into debtor status, and exporting more and more of our wealth every year in an ever growing trade deficit. approaching a trillion per year of wealth flowing out not to return.

Until that changes our debt situation, as well as the living standard of most Americans will continue to deteriorate.. At least as I see it.

The kicker is that changing it now will involve probably 20-30% inflation for us, in the form of higher cost of goods, lower value of the dollar, and wages that do not increase with that inflation. Likely a combination of all of those, and if government policy doesn't change, it'll come slowly in over the next several years. The government is simply trying to ease us into this pain, so it doesn't hit us all in one form at one time.. That is the hole we are in, and what it'll take to get out regardless of who is running Washington.

As for the OP, good advice you have gotten. I would add to make friends with your neighbors.. A strong back lent out to help neighbors on the side with a few things could get you use of a tractor/tiller in return and a lot of other real good help to survive on $300 a month. Most folks I know figure out who the good folk around them are, and work a decent barter network for use of tools and machinery, help with larger jobs etc.

You just don't make it out in the country alone with that little income without a network of friends that take care of each other., or at least it's a heck of alot harder.

Also don't spend the auto repair fund etc. if you didn't need it that month, gotta have some discipline in keeping that money saved once it gets to be a decent amount, cause as soon as you do Murphy will toss a $200-$300 repair bill at ya.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

Terri said:


> Again, politics are why we are in this mess. As Warren Buffet said, if politicians were forbidden to be re elected if they did not balance the budget, then the budget would be balanced in only 5 minutes!


That's exactly what I mean. Whether or not the national budget might be balanced played no part in the financial meltdown. More to the point, it also is irrelevant to the recovery. Clouding the issue with irrelevant rhetoric isn't going to solve the problem.

I take the economy seriously. Unfortunately it is impossible to have a serious discussion about the economy in this country, since it always turns back to politics. I suggest that a frank understanding of what went wrong, what can be done to get the economy back, and what we can do to prevent it from happening again would take us in the right direction. I don't think most Americans are interested in doing that.

Americans are either interested in getting a free lunch or they're interested in tax breaks. Nobody is really interested in fixing what's wrong, or even understanding what's wrong. When that happens this is what you get.


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

Nevada said:


> You watch too much FoxNews. You need to study the problem objectively.


I find it interesting that you not only think you know whats going on in the world at large... you think you know what news program I watch! WOW, I seldom watch fox, usually msnbc or cnn. The reason I watch them is primarily because they have taken most of the good comedies off the air.  If I am looking for accurate and unbiased reporting the daly show is good too. Heres the problem... as I see it. Our dogooders in DC thought we needed more poor folks in the home ownership game. They passed legislation that required mortgage companies to do business in shall we say "an unethical and otherwise illegal" manner by giving preferential treatment to certain borrowers who could not have obtained home loans without these special concessions. IE they lowered the standards so unqualified buyers could buy homes they couldnt afford. This practice created entirely different results than just letting some poor folks dig their own financial graves... it allowed investors to buy properties and flip them, artificially inflating home values because basically anyone who could fog a mirror could qualify for a home loan in those special "select" areas. Well now, once the mortgage companies had made these loans they of course wanted to unload them.... who is our number one and number two mortgage buying companies? Yep good ol freddie freeloader and his trashy cousin fannie may. (does the name Barney Frank ring a bell here?) The real problem is that the Community Reinvestment Act had been revised to ever increase the number of these illegitimate loans (that no banker would have EVER considered making otherwise) to the point that if any mortgage company wanted to sell their good mortgages to fred and fanny... they had to include a minimum of fifty percent of these bogus loans! So they made good loans, and bad loans, bundled them all up and offloaded them to freddie and fannie and let the good times roll. There are those who think that it was the derivatives that caused the problem.. and they had their role in it, but if the feds had not required the mortgage companies to make the bogus loans to begin with... there would never had been the overload in the derivatives market to begin with. Once again... politicians meddling where they dont belong has created a mess the rest of us have to live with.


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

Shygal said:


> Well here goes this thread.......


Hmm, good point! I get to reading along and often forget what the thread is about. Sorry for the drift and I will try to do better.


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## nancy237 (May 29, 2008)

I grew up with hard working & creative parents.

Dad cleaned office spaces & delivered papers at night for extra cash.

The local grocery store gave him a huge box of pulled fruits & veggies every week that mom sorted through and salvaged plenty for us.

Dad was much to tired from working full time & delivering papers & other odd jobs to watch movies..

Dad helped others with their cars and people gave him old cars that he repaired & drove.

Heated the house with a fireplace mostly..Windows were our AC.

Mom would dress a deer that the local deputies alerted her too when it was hit (always a fresh kill) . We did freeze this but it could be canned. 

We cooked for friends sometimes and ate with them. They provided the food & mom was an excellent cook. It was a great system for both.

----------------------------------------------------
I personally think you are not looking at ways to bring in more money.
Yard work, take care of a pet for someone, cook for others, deliver pizza,
develope a skill fixing lawn mowers.
Tell us some things you have done and we could think of other ideas..
If you work 40 hrs a week on the property that leaves your evenings & weekends for making extra money...


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## oz in SC V2.0 (Dec 19, 2008)

EarlsNan said:


> OK No one is commenting on what I think is obvious. Housing, utilities, cell, vehicle plus tags and insurance are all being paid PLUS he's being given $300/month to 'live' on. How can you NOT manage on that???


That is what I am thinking,it is $300/month for food and anything else.

I don't know why a person would need TV/entertainment when you have all the time in the world to do whatever takes your fancy....


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

Txrider said:


> As far as I am concerned the real underlying issue is that since the mid 70's we went from lender nation with a trade surplus to a debtor nation with a trade deficit.


The fact that out national debt is staggering has no relevance to the current recession or recovery.


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## oz in SC V2.0 (Dec 19, 2008)

snoozy said:


> If you didn't watch TV, you'd have the time and the spirit to figure out a better way to live. Watching TV makes you passive, and occupies your mind so that you do not figure out strategies to improve your life.


THIS!!!

TV has only one purpose,to fill in the time before you die.


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## Txrider (Jun 25, 2010)

Nevada said:


> The fact that out national debt is staggering has no relevance to the current recession or recovery.


Exactly, it's just a symptom of the hole we have been digging ourselves into since the 70's.. Our account balance in trade is unsustainable, and getting worse every year. Nothing whatsoever to do with the governments debt. Our economy can't sustain spending a trillion dollars a year more in trade than we receive in trade. A farmer who sells $100,000 of produce a year cannot sustain a lifestyle of buying $150,000 worth of goods a year.

We covered up the fact the hole was getting so deep by papering over it with the internet an housing booms that were fantasy economies built on nothing, but that just kept the reality of the depth of that hole from being apparent until now. Now without a false economic bubble to hide it, we're seeing the reality we have dug ourselves into over the past 30 years.

And it'll take a pretty big hit to get us out of it. The government can only try to ease us through it, which comes at a pretty high price itself. Bottom line it doesn't matter how much we cut in federal spending, or how much we tax who, until we fix the underlying fact that we are spending a trillion a year as an economy over what we bring in as an economy' we'll continue to slide down hill. Standards of living will continue to stagnate, federal income will stgnate and social programs become too expensive etc..


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

Nevada said:


> That's exactly what I mean. Whether or not the national budget might be balanced played no part in the financial meltdown.


Sorry, I might have skipped ahead of myself. The national budget did NOT fuel the last meltdown: you are correct. It WILL, however, fuel a meltdown in the very near future.

Watch for it: unless Congress gets its act together it will hit within the next 2 years.


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## fordy (Sep 13, 2003)

..................'Chicken Ranching' can be quite profitable , just keep yer hens a layin' and the dough will come a rollin in ! , lol , fordy


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## chewie (Jun 9, 2008)

oz in SC V2.0 said:


> THIS!!!
> 
> TV has only one purpose,to fill in the time before you die.


AMEN!!!:rock:


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

oz in SC V2.0 said:


> THIS!!!
> 
> TV has only one purpose,to fill in the time before you die.


I would add that for those who really arent into sitting around watching tv till you die... the internet works well too.


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## Pony (Jan 6, 2003)

Yvonne's hubby said:


> I would add that for those who really arent into sitting around watching tv till you die... the internet works well too.


<snork!>

Point taken.

Off for chores, then the roar of the greasepaint! (Dress rehearsal tonight: Another "free" activity: Community Theater.)


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## giddy (Nov 14, 2006)

****, if you were wanting opinions, boy you sure did get some! I know people that would love to have $300 left after their bills were paid. By the way, there is the Good Shepherd Clinic in Ardmore for dental and medical, is either free or based on income. There is a bakery outlet in Ardmore. There is a freecycle.org in Durant and Ardmore-which Madill and Kingston are included in that. There is a craigslist.com for texoma-Oklahoma. There is an urgent care in Durant and Ardmore. There is Feed Store & More in Madill. There are several employers in Madill-WW Trailer, S&H Trailer, CM Truck Beds, J & I and the wire place south of town. There is a waste and recycling place-SORD west of Kingston. There are many resorts on Lake Texhoma-Little Glasses, Soldier Creek, Bridgeview, Buncombe Creek, Caney Creek and several others you might be able to get a job. There are 2 commercial greenhouses in Kingston that sell seed. The one north of town also rents equipment and probably has tillers also. I know them-they are great people. You don't need a tiller if you are doing raised beds which you can do with concrete blocks or even galvanized tin. I have a garden about 3500' and I hoed by hand and I'm 56. There is a casino in Madill-Madill Gaming, Texoma Gaming in Kingston and Choctaw Gaming in Durant (big) for jobs if that interest you. You can look up jobs at www.winstarcasinos.com. If my mind hasn't left me, it's about 23 miles from Ardmore to Madill, from Madill to Kingston is around 11, Kingston to Durant about 17 miles. In other words from Ardmore to Durant is about 50 miles give or take, and Kingston is in the middle. Durant is a small college town so maybe some jobs there. Ardmore is further that you probably want to drive but there are several distribution centers there for Dollar Tree, Best Buy, Dollar General, Dot Foods, etc. You can always get a used lawnmower and weedeater and try to get some yards to take care of and maybe some landscaping.


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## oz in SC V2.0 (Dec 19, 2008)

Yvonne's hubby said:


> I would add that for those who really arent into sitting around watching tv till you die... the internet works well too.


Well...the internet you at least have input AND the ability to learn...TV pretty much not...especially nowadays and in this country.


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## Dutchie (Mar 14, 2003)

EarlsNan said:


> OK No one is commenting on what I think is obvious. Housing, utilities, cell, vehicle plus tags and insurance are all being paid PLUS he's being given $300/month to 'live' on. How can you NOT manage on that???


Perhaps, but that is not going to help him in the long run. As his main objective is to get away from his father, he would be much better off to get a job in a major area and make some real money.


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## Dutchie (Mar 14, 2003)

Hazmat54 said:


> Some of you people are pretty harsh. He stated in the original post what his situation was. The 'given' in his equation. How to frugally live on the $300 each month. Telling him he should not rely on family. Telling him to move somewhere else. Ok, I know the south of France comment was a joke. Asking why he asked, if he was going to ignore what he heard. He ignored the people that ignored reading the basic situation he is dealing with.
> 
> Just starting to be frugal myself. Eat rice. Dried beans take far too much energy to cook. Get a rice cooker with a steamer section above. The waste heat from the rice cooking steams the vegetables or meat in the steamer section. Cut the meat and veggies small and thin. I like small electrics. The energy is concentrated on the food you are cooking, not heating the air.


Hazmat .... he also said he was doing this to get away from his dad and that he has been unemployed for a long time.

His plan as it stands is only going to drag him down even more.


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## Dutchie (Mar 14, 2003)

nodak3 said:


> Whatever your political flavor and assessment of the recession, one thing is sure:
> 
> the net, satellite tv, or netflix, cell phones, in fact even phones at all, are actually luxuries.
> 
> ...


:goodjob:


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## Just Little Me (Aug 9, 2007)

He will have 200.00 a month more than we do at the end of bill paying. And we make due just fine. But then we save to have extras. My net is paid for cause I barter it with doing garden/canning for a neighbor. I clean houses for 2 more neighbors. I do not count that income as it is already taken for the a net bill. My net is what I use to learn, and to help me teach my son.

I am gonna repete, he has till spring to get all his supplies ready. He could already be out at the property getting a garden area layered and composted with leaves. So much he could be doing NOW. The boats could be taken apart and started to become chicken coops.............


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## Lizza (Nov 30, 2005)

I think I read enough of the 5 pages to get the gist of the matter. My take on that matter (for whatever it is worth).

#1 Anyone that feels that TV is a necessity for life has plenty of money. 
#2 OP seems to have a very large safety net if heating, rent, car, insurance, and cell phone are provided, can't really see how you could fail with $300 for a single person, many people are in much worse shape then this. 

Why not spend your time trying to figure out a way to get out from under your father's thumb and a way to make more then $300 a month? I don't get that part, maybe I missed something?


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## ldc (Oct 11, 2006)

I'm finding everyone's input insightful for me, in a different locale entirely! So, I hope something resonates with the OP! And, wow, does giddy know that area or what!!! Thanks to all.


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## Shygal (May 26, 2003)

Pamda, saw your post in another forum here, sorry


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## brreitsma (Jan 14, 2003)

Back over 10 years ago now there were long stretches where many monthes I didn't even have $300. Gas was under $1 a gallon back then though.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

brreitsma said:


> Back over 10 years ago now there were long stretches where many monthes I didn't even have $300. Gas was under $1 a gallon back then though.


That was over 10 years ago alright. I haven't seen $1/gallon gasoline for more like 30 years.


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## mpillow (Jan 24, 2003)

there is money to be made with the internet! (I started oct.1 and have made$55 on swagbucks on dialuyp!)
swagbucks.com, irazoo, superpoints, printable coupons
weusecoupons.com, saving star, upromise

swagbucks is fun! shameless plug-> www.swagbucks.com/refer/misspillow
(paypal or amazon gift cards)
http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/showthread.php?t=381709&page=31

A trio of meat rabbits, raised beds, stock up on candles after Christmas for heat and light...


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

mpillow said:


> there is money to be made with the internet! (I started oct.1 and have made$55 on swagbucks on dialuyp!)


There is also *real* money to be made on the Internet. You can make a good living at it if you channel your efforts in the right direction.


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## mpillow (Jan 24, 2003)

Nevada...I'm not a gambler! Been to Reno had the CARP scared out of me thank you too much! (Mexicans fighting with broken bottles)


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## Grandmotherbear (May 15, 2002)

CoonXpress it took me decades to figure out how to make fried rice. You need a wok or big iron skillet + a hot plate or electric skillet with a HIGh setting. 
Start the night before by making twice as much rice as you need that night. Fried rice needs dried, day old rice.
Start by chopping up about 3 tablespoons of vegies and tiny meat or fish dice.
Have 1 jumbo to 3 small eggs standing by. Best to crack each into a sep container to make sure a bad egg doesn't get thrown into your dinner.
Put 2-3 tablespoons oil into your wok/pan and turn it onto High or the setting right below High. When oil smokes throw your rice in and keep moving it around till it turns goldenish.
Throw in the tiny scraps of meat and vegies. They should be very small to cook quickly. After 60 seconds or so-remember you are scraping this stuff around constantly-add the beaten eggs. Keep scraping up the rice etc off the bottom of the pan the egg should coagulate within 60 seconds. Doesn't need a $2.29 packet of "fried rice" seasoning. That's what the vegies are for- onions or mushrooms or peppers or garlic etc.
If you use high enough heat and keep your cook spoon dancing you WON'T have anything stick. I can't tell you the number of times I tried to cook fried rice on medium heat- let the rice stay in one spot too long because it getting soggy not crispy and alluva sudden had a half inch of charcoal to chip outa my pan.
I suggest you get your contract with your dad in writing. It may not force him to uphold his side of the bargain when he defaults and I am sorry, but at the age of 61 , with my mom and my dad and many years of watching friends go thru this, I will say almost every such arrangement as you describe falls apart. Because the PARENT decides that Junior isn't working hard or long enough or doing the job right (prolly a picayune difference that make no difference but they a wild hair up theirs about it) or because their ideas of the cost of living are firmly fixed at levels last seen 30 to 40 years ago. Having everything in writing will at least give you something to show your friends and family that your dad will have been complaining to about how you are not upholding your part of the bargain.
Good luck and hope it works.


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## chewie (Jun 9, 2008)

GMB....that sounds great! a thread drift here, but thanks for sharing that, i plan to make that very soon. 

and i think you are wise, the last several lines of your post. as my grmpa said "i didn't get old bein stupid".


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## mpillow (Jan 24, 2003)

yep I make fried rice every other week with 3c dry rice..I like jerk sauce on my stir fry rice..and beans...spicy or sweet!

If you have a dump/transfer/freecycle center ask them to save all the glass jars with lids for you for dry storage and water bath canning...I always buy jar spag. sauce so I have a jar to use after! I have WB in ragu jars at least 3 times with success...but not according to food police LOL *do it at your own risk*


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

mpillow said:


> Nevada...I'm not a gambler! Been to Reno had the CARP scared out of me thank you too much! (Mexicans fighting with broken bottles)


I'll let you in on a little secret. The real money isn't in eBay & Amazon, regardless of what anyone tells you. It's in subscriber services. Back in the day I did $60K/year with dialup service. While that particular opportunity is gone; DSL, hosting, and VOIP are still alive. Find a way to make yourself stand-out.


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## mpillow (Jan 24, 2003)

my expertise is growing meat and veg.(and good kids) so the IT thing is way beyond me! 

My computer is almost an antique and a freebie! gateway running win98! LOL


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## am1too (Dec 30, 2009)

CoonXpress said:


> Due to some mishaps and happenstances, been unemployed for a bit.
> Had to move back in with my dad, then my truck died, repairable but cost prohibitive to operate.
> 
> Anyway, he has a place near Kingston OK, that he's going to let me move into this upcoming spring. While there I will be responsible for fixing the place back up.
> ...


First I'd dump the TV and movie stuff. No time for it. Any necessary TV is free. Radio is better. One can do stuff and listen to it instead of being parked.

Get a cell with no contract. There are a couple good options even with the same coverage as ATT.

Shop thrift stores for kitchen stuff. Can get a small microwave new for 75 or less. 

Get a crock pot. I do taters onion canned veggies and chicken leg quarters for a week. Just store in fridge. One can do hard boiled eggs. Make tuna fish salad sandwiches. Buy only what is on sale.

No pets.

Look for a senior citizens lunch program. I eat a very good meal once a week. Sometimes bring home a take out. Get farm eggs sometimes Could have had 3doz free this week to include duck eggs. I don't go anywhere except town once a week and the senior lunch program. Hey mine even has live music. If your not a senior cost varies from say $3 to $5 for very good food. At my center ii is self serve. 

I have wood heat.

Only property expense is electric.


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## CoonXpress (Sep 20, 2004)

morningstar said:


> Why not spend your time trying to figure out a way to get out from under your father's thumb and a way to make more then $300 a month? I don't get that part, maybe I missed something?


Do you and the others that mentioned that I should be getting a job, really think I have not looked for one?


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## willow_girl (Dec 7, 2002)

What's the economy like in your area? If there are no jobs, there are no jobs. 

You need to get to a place where there ARE jobs! Almost every fast food and retail store in this area (SWPA) has a "help wanted" sign in the window. The temp services are screaming for warm bodies! If you don't have a criminal record and can pass a drug test, you're golden.

Look in your crystal ball for a moment. As Grandmotherbear said, this arrangement with your father will likely as not fall apart, either because you can't agree on the cost and timing of the repairs, or he'll simply get tired of writing checks on your behalf every month and decide you should be self-supporting.

At that point, you'll be back to Square One, and will you be better or worse off than you are now? You'll have kicked the can down the road a bit, but you'll have an even longer history of unemployment, which will make it even harder to find a job. 

You can't live off your dad forever. 

Right now, you have some leverage, because it appears your father wants you out of his house badly enough that he's willing to spend money to put some distance between you. I'd research the nearest boom town, then ask if he'd foot the bill for bus fare and a month's rent and expenses. Find a place to stay that is on the busline and start pounding the pavement for a job -- eight hours a day, five days a week -- until you find one.


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## Belfrybat (Feb 21, 2003)

With everything listed by the OP paid for, I'd have no problem living on $300.00 a month as long as I didn't get sick (always a gamble).

Rainy day savings fund $50.00
Food and household goods $100.00 - 125.00
Truck maintenance and gas $50-100 depending on how much I use it (this includes setting some apart for tires replacement/ oil changes)
Clothing and misc. expenses $30-50
That leaves anywhere from $25-75 left over

From 1995 - 2002 I lived on $350.00 a month stipend with all housing, auto, medical expenses paid for. The $350. was for my personal living expenses which included food, clothing, household goods and gasoline (not truck maintenance). I rarely needed that much, and when I left, I had around $1500.00 in the bank. I really lived very well and was able to buy pretty much what I needed.


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## frogmammy (Dec 8, 2004)

Well, what I've always felt, and done is, if I can't find a job, I start a business.

Mon


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## Dutchie (Mar 14, 2003)

CoonXpress said:


> Do you and the others that mentioned that I should be getting a job, really think I have not looked for one?


Honey, if you could not have found a job in the OKC area you have not looked very hard. Sorry.


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## Dutchie (Mar 14, 2003)

willow_girl said:


> What's the economy like in your area? If there are no jobs, there are no jobs.
> 
> You need to get to a place where there ARE jobs! Almost every fast food and retail store in this area (SWPA) has a "help wanted" sign in the window. The temp services are screaming for warm bodies! If you don't have a criminal record and can pass a drug test, you're golden.
> 
> ...


Willow, in OK just about any decent size town has plenty of employment and affordable rentals available. Kingston is NOT one of them because of its location and small size. So basically, he could stay in OKC, get a job there as well as affordable housing.


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## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

If I'm understanding you correctly, your father has set you up with 1/2 acre and a mobile home. He pays for your vehicle, cell phone, water, electricity, propane, all materials to repair the MH and pays for your car insurance. He also gives you $300 a month to live on.

You're setting aside $50 each month for purchasing tools for food (gardening/freezing/hunting).
You're setting aside $25 each month for vehicle maintenance; $25 for a phone and $20 for Netflix (enjoyment).

This totals $120, which leaves you $180 for surviving. With the game so near, all you need are a good pair of walking boots and some cheap tools. (A knife/hatchet would be important.) Also, learn what "edible" plants grow wild around you. (Many of those are healthier than what you could buy in a grocery store.)

You will need some way of getting your medical needs met. This is all still quite a challenge!

I do know if you have no insurance, when you get sick, just go to ER at hospital and they eventually will cancel any monies owed them. This is if you don't "own" anything but your car & home. The Salvation Army and Goodwill shops can help you with cooking utensils, household goods and even clothing for next to no money.

If I were in your shoes, one of the first things I would establish is a small multi-purpose shed, put out some fliers letting the locals know I'm available for work and make sure my connection to the Heavenly Father is still strong and save every cent I could.

It sounds as though your father is helping all he can without doing it all for you. You're more fortunate than many; so keep your health. Good luck


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## snoozy (May 10, 2002)

Take the $300 and buy a bus ticket to eastern Washington State:


Associated Press
Washington orchards desperate for apple pickers

By SHANNON DININNY

The Associated Press


YAKIMA, Wash. â

Apple growers say they could have had one of their best years ever if a shortage of workers hadn't forced them to leave some fruit on trees.

Growers in Washington state, which produces about half of the nation's apples, say the labor shortage was made worse by a late start to their harvest. The growing season got off to a slow start because of a cold, wet spring, and some migrant workers didn't stick around to wait for it.

But farmers say an immigration crackdown by the federal government and states such as Arizona and Alabama scared off many more workers. They have tried to replace them with domestic workers with little success and inmates at a much greater cost. Many growers have resorted to posting "pickers wanted" signs outside their orchards and asking neighbors to send prospective workers their way.

Jeff Pheasant and his sister Darla Grubb are the fourth generation in their family to grow apples near Soap Lake, about 120 miles east of Seattle. They said their harvest was a week behind because the fruit wasn't ripe, then another week behind because they had no workers to pick it.

Pheasant Orchards usually has 65 workers at the peak of harvest. Only 50 pickers arrived this year, and many were inexperienced, Pheasant said.

"You have to have people," Grubb said. "They're the reason we have fruits and vegetables. We couldn't do this without our workers."

About 15 billion apples are picked in Washington each year, all by hand. Orchards line the hillsides and valleys east of the Cascade Range from the Canadian border in the north to the Columbia River in the south.

http://www.kirotv.com/ap/ap/agriculture/washington-orchards-desperate-for-apple-pickers/nFYww/

OR do you want to live off Daddy for the rest of your life?


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## nodak3 (Feb 5, 2003)

Or Williston, with literally THOUSANDS of unfilled job openings.


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## Fowler (Jul 8, 2008)

I use to plant trees, for a paper company.
It was hardwork, and I only got paid 3 cents a tree, but as you get stronger you can make 300 a week and even more the faster you get. It was the best workout I've ever had in my whole life. I lived in a bus, with other people I rented the bed. It was a total hippie lifestyle. You work from sun up to sun-down. Rain sleet and snow. I learned a lot about myself doing this job. Worth every back breaking minute too. I am glad I had this experience.

Here's a starting point, good luck.

http://www.jobmonkey.com/treeplanting/tree-planting.html


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

willow_girl said:


> You need to get to a place where there ARE jobs! Almost every fast food and retail store in this area (SWPA) has a "help wanted" sign in the window. The temp services are screaming for warm bodies! If you don't have a criminal record and can pass a drug test, you're golden.


Well if you have free rent/utilities/vehicle+insurance, heck yea, you should be able to find all kinds of minimum wage and part time jobs that nobody else can afford to take cause they dont pay real world living and the employers offering those jobs arent flexible to allow you to schedule around 3 or 4 other minimum wage part time jobs to get equivalent of a full time job. But for you with all basics already provided, they would greatly increase your $300 base salary... Still give you lot free time.


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

snoozy said:


> Take the $300 and buy a bus ticket to eastern Washington State:
> 
> 
> Associated Press
> ...


I dunno about Yakima... according to this article Yakima county is in trouble as far as employment goes. 
http://www.yakima-herald.com/stories/2010/01/16/01-17-09-food-stamps

"Nearly one of every four people in Yakima County is on food stamps. That's more than anywhere else in Washington and more than twice the state average."

"While a quarter of all Yakima County food stamp recipients report no other sources of income -- including work or government aid -- many have recently lost jobs"


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## Guest (Nov 9, 2011)

6 pages. He wanted to know how to live on $300 a month, not told where to move to and to get a job. If somebody comes and asks me how to get to Hillsborough I tell them how to get to Hillsborough. I don't tell them it's impossible to get there from here, or how to get to Danville, or even tell them what they need is a Dodge Charger. Or care what set of circumstances led them to want to go to Hillsborough in the first place.


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## oz in SC V2.0 (Dec 19, 2008)

zong said:


> 6 pages. He wanted to know how to live on $300 a month, not told where to move to and to get a job. If somebody comes and asks me how to get to Hillsborough I tell them how to get to Hillsborough. I don't tell them it's impossible to get there from here, or how to get to Danville, or even tell them what they need is a Dodge Charger. Or care what set of circumstances led them to want to go to Hillsborough in the first place.


LOL...quite true.


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## AR Cattails (Dec 22, 2005)

I've been following this thread and it seems like some are giving advice to a young man instead of a 41-year-old man. I just think the advice given might differ somewhat depending on the age of the person. Maybe not. :shrug:


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## Dutchie (Mar 14, 2003)

AR Cattails said:


> I've been following this thread and it seems like some are giving advice to a young man instead of a 41-year-old man. I just think the advice given might differ somewhat depending on the age of the person. Maybe not. :shrug:


His mindset is that of a young man, not a mature 41 year old. And the reason why I said what I said is that, if he follows his plan, he is certainly setting himself up for failure and he'll never get out of the hole he is in. And he'll always be dependent on either his father or society.


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## oz in SC V2.0 (Dec 19, 2008)

Dutchie said:


> And he'll always be dependent on either his father or *society*.


Isn't that the point of a safety net?
You are sounding like a heartless conservative...:nana:

I think if I was to be paid $300/month and have all my utilities taken care of I would be quite happy and surely wouldn't want to be looking to work my life away.


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## snoozy (May 10, 2002)

oz in SC V2.0 said:


> Isn't that the point of a safety net?
> You are sounding like a heartless conservative...:nana:
> 
> I think if I was to be paid $300/month and have all my utilities taken care of I would be quite happy and surely wouldn't want to be looking to work my life away.


So isn't that the mindset of a lazy welfare bum, which is so decried on this very forum?


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## Guest (Nov 9, 2011)

His dad is paying him, Your uncle isn't taking away your money to give him. Huge difference.


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

snoozy said:


> So isn't that the mindset of a lazy welfare bum, which is so decried on this very forum?


Its not decried by everyone on this forum, there are quite a few who seem to think that a safety net makes fer a good hammock.


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

oz in SC V2.0 said:


> I think if I was to be paid $300/month and have all my utilities taken care of I would be quite happy and surely wouldn't want to be looking to work my life away.


Ya think it might take quite a while to get that deck built eh???


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

zong said:


> His dad is paying him, Your uncle isn't taking away your money to give him. Huge difference.


Exactly. And, he is going to rebuild 2 decks and probably do a lot of other repair jobs.

I am now middle-aged, and this summer I gave myself a break with the repair jobs also: I am paying my 2 teenagers to help me get things done around the house. 

The repairs have slowly crept ahead of me, and I now have a long list of jobs that need doing. And, why should I pay a stranger when the kids are both wanting jobs? So my kids are working for me and getting paid for it. That isn't welfare.


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## Belfrybat (Feb 21, 2003)

Let's see what the OP is really "earning" in this situation. Some of my figures might seem arbitrary, but are based on where I live (small rural town in Texas).

Rent 350.00
Utilities 125.00
Vehicle use 200.00 (figured this as leasing a cheap car or making payments)
" insurance 35.00
Cell phone 35.00
"Salary" 300.00
---------------
Total $1045.00 month

Not too shoddy for a part-time "job". At least he is willing to work rather than taking handouts.


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## oz in SC V2.0 (Dec 19, 2008)

Yvonne's hubby said:


> Ya think it might take quite a while to get that deck built eh???


Multiple generations perhaps....:happy2:


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

snoozy said:


> So isn't that the mindset of a lazy welfare bum, which is so decried on this very forum?


It's more like wealthy bankers & insurance companies who want us to pay their gambling debts for them.


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## Oak Leaf (Sep 14, 2011)

Here's some advice, don't ask for advice on these forums! lol

Do what you want. It's your life, it's your relationship with your father. Only you can know what the situation really is and if it's something worth doing. Good luck! :goodjob:


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## Lizza (Nov 30, 2005)

CoonXpress said:


> Do you and the others that mentioned that I should be getting a job, really think I have not looked for one?


Actually, I didn't mean get a job (well, not fully). I meant you haven't talked about your plans to stop having your father support you, this might be the cause of a lot of the friction. Community Colleges everywhere have wonderful programs or you could start your own business, there are lots of opportunities, you only have to start thinking about them and a future that doesn't include living on $300 under your Dad's thumb.


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## TxHorseMom (Feb 21, 2011)

I thought the OPs "job" was to do repairs and build decks. With everything else paid for, he should be able to live quite comfortable.


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## Lizza (Nov 30, 2005)

What about the North Dakota Oil Fields? 

[ame]http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/45101989#45101989[/ame]


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## giddy (Nov 14, 2006)

Wow, I guess all of us homesteaders are all middle-class. I really thought this forum was all about living as self-reliant as one can, and supposedly not needing to keep up with the Jones. My grandparents lived very close to the land. My grandfather planted a huge garden every year and what my grandmother didn't put up, he gave away. If he couldn't give the produce away, my grandmother would can it, freeze it, make jelly, pickles or whatever and THEN give it away. They lived very modestly, drove an old pickup, heated with wood mostly but in a newer home. They both lived well up into their 90's and never wanted for anything as far as I know. When we were small, my grandmother had a drawer that contained things we could play with. It included a canning jar full of buttons she'd taken off old clothes, empty avon perfume bottles, and a lot of other wonderful things I couldn't find anywhere else. **** asked "how to live on $300 a month". He also stated what was furnished in his first post. I live probably 75 miles from Kingston, I've been there and thru there many times. I did take the time to look at the area phonebook and give some information. I thought that is what this forum is about. Some of us might not be happy making $50,000, some may be content with $12,000. He isn't on food stamps, even though I think he would be eligible for $200 a month here. He could have medicaid and might even qualify for a trac phone with free minutes every month that the government gives now. He isn't doing that and you aren't having to pay for it so why all the negative energy on this post?

By the way Dutchie, where in Oklahoma are you from?


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## giddy (Nov 14, 2006)

I'm sorry for the rant above. It's been a really long day-no excuse.


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## NickieL (Jun 15, 2007)

It's ok, we love you anyway.


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## giddy (Nov 14, 2006)

Thank you Nickie-I needed that!


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## PerhamMN (Oct 24, 2011)

giddy said:


> I'm sorry for the rant above. It's been a really long day-no excuse.


I actually liked your rant! Some people have been very quick to judge the OP.


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## michelleIL (Aug 29, 2004)

No Giddy you are right, too much negative energy, I read through here once in a while, but that is it! The OP asked a question and set his needs and expenses out front, and what his dad would cover for all the work he will do and everyone jumped on his back and pounded, like he was trying to live off the taxpayer. His dad is furnishing all the project expenses and his phone, he is responsible for food and other things he wants. His real expenses are covered, which will be building materials. We know those aren't cheap. Both men will benefit from this thing being done. He will be away from his dad and his dad will get his place looked after and fixed up! Sounds good to me! This thread was more about interaction among the responders than what was asked by the OP, but then again, that's what most threads become when ppl ask for advice, and don't necessarily jump on the bandwagon that's offered!


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## Pony (Jan 6, 2003)

michelleIL said:


> No Giddy you are right, too much negative energy, I read through here once in a while, but that is it! The OP asked a question and set his needs and expenses out front, and what his dad would cover for all the work he will do and everyone jumped on his back and pounded, like he was trying to live off the taxpayer. His dad is furnishing all the project expenses and his phone, he is responsible for food and other things he wants. His real expenses are covered, which will be building materials. We know those aren't cheap. Both men will benefit from this thing being done. He will be away from his dad and his dad will get his place looked after and fixed up! Sounds good to me! This thread was more about interaction among the responders than what was asked by the OP, but then again, that's what most threads become when ppl ask for advice, and don't necessarily jump on the bandwagon that's offered!


:clap: (had to use the emoticon; no "like" button)


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## Jonathan (Oct 26, 2011)

Giddy, I think you're "rant" was dead on. It isn't just this forum, I see it in a lot of other places as well. Someone asks a specific question and ends up getting answers instead for the questions people think they should have asked.


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## Kwings (Dec 21, 2010)

For kitchen items try looking a ads for Black Friday. I know every year (for the last 4 years at least) walmart has a $4 crockpot for sale. Its a smaller one (not the tiny one) but it works for me. I buy one every year. (not because the others have gone out or anything but i just cant pass them up! and yes i do use them all lol. 

They usually have other stuff to like the small food processors and cups and glasses sets. Also keep an eye out on craigslist and find things on there.


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## michelleIL (Aug 29, 2004)

If you knew how to weld, you could find steel metal items and clean them up and make something! LOL I don't THINK that is a real possibility, but it is a nice thought!


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## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

*Now we're back on track!*

I have seen quite a few people in these forums know how to "help" a person reach their own goals instead of expecting that person to change their goal to fit different perspectives. These people certainly are great assets to this forum; and I'm real glad to see some of them brought this thread back to what the OP had requested.


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## oz in SC V2.0 (Dec 19, 2008)

Clothes,kitchen stuff,and bedding can all be bought at thrift stores.

Your garden won't require a tiller,that is what you are for...you have nothing but time.

Food will be seasonal,what is on sale and a lot of veggies and rice/potatoes/pasta.You can buy turkeys for less than $1/pound,debone it,divide it up into meal portions,then make the best stock from the carcass.
Pasta runs $1/pound.
Rice even cheaper.
Potatoes are for sale around here for .39/pound.

A freezer can be found for less than $200 easily,we got a free fridge off Freecycle,bought another for less than $150 and our upright freezer was $100.

For a firearm,I would buy one of the shotgun/.22 combos.

Regarding chickens,I just built an A frame shelter that would be fine for a chicken tractor for less than $60 and that was buying brand new metal roofing.


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## Fowler (Jul 8, 2008)

zong said:


> 6 pages. He wanted to know how to live on $300 a month, not told where to move to and to get a job. If somebody comes and asks me how to get to Hillsborough I tell them how to get to Hillsborough. I don't tell them it's impossible to get there from here, or how to get to Danville, or even tell them what they need is a Dodge Charger. Or care what set of circumstances led them to want to go to Hillsborough in the first place.


Sorry, I dont know how to live on 300 dollars. I just know how to work and find work to make more money, my bad. :gaptooth:


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## Cindy in NY (May 10, 2002)

Hazmat54 said:


> Dried beans take far too much energy to cook.


I can tell you how to cook beans in a cooler. Requires very little energy.


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## michelleIL (Aug 29, 2004)

"Originally Posted by zong
6 pages. He wanted to know how to live on $300 a month, not told where to move to and to get a job. If somebody comes and asks me how to get to Hillsborough I tell them how to get to Hillsborough. I don't tell them it's impossible to get there from here, or how to get to Danville, or even tell them what they need is a Dodge Charger. Or care what set of circumstances led them to want to go to Hillsborough in the first place." 

EXACTLY!!!!!


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## michelleIL (Aug 29, 2004)

is this the one where you heat everything up to temp and put in a foam cooer wrapped in a towel, or close to it?


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

Cindy in NY said:


> I can tell you how to cook beans in a cooler. Requires very little energy.


You can also microwave them, if you soak them first.


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## TxHorseMom (Feb 21, 2011)

Have you tried looking for a tiller in a pawn shop? I've seen all kinds of things like that at a the pawn shops around here. Sometimes ebay you can find things like that. We bought a cement mixer off of ebay for $25! It was a "local pickup only" item and we had to drive to the dallas area to get it, but, we timed it with a trip we had to make up there anyway, so no extra $$ for gas.


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## kasilofhome (Feb 10, 2005)

Just remember fried rice does not have to be just like take out just hardy and palitable.
Left over cold (important tip)

Fry bacon (get ends or ad oil and use any meat say 2oz is enough)
set browned meat aside. 
make scrambled eggs just just fry it like a pancake and slice it into strips put with meat.
next using your densess vegs cut small
start frying (might need a bit more oil ad a dash of a liquid broth, water, soy and a lid to steam tougher vegs --even radishes can be cooked 
add other veggies 
add rice 
add meat and eggs.
spices if you have them or extras soy, broth, ginger, garlic, pepper flakes.

another dish
rice and peanut sause 
ok when the jar of peanut butter is low or empty add warm broth or even just water
soy sause and I like pepper flakes heat up left over vegies top the rice with that and any left over meat cover with peanut sause. Learn to eat ALL left overs 
whether it is a soup, omlet, fried rice stew but waste nothing. The more you use up the less you need the more you save. Saving for the future SHTF cause we all face some issue each day and some of those cost money we did not plan on parting with.

You can do it.


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## PerhamMN (Oct 24, 2011)

morningstar said:


> What about the North Dakota Oil Fields?
> 
> http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/45101989#45101989


North Dakota is the worst place I've ever lived. I'd rather live on $300 a month.


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## giddy (Nov 14, 2006)

****, be watching craigslist for deck material. This last summer both of my daughters gave away 4-10 x 10 decks and 1- 6 x 8 porch. These were all made out of regular deck boards and lumber screwed together. Two of them were not even 1 year old. The stuff is out there, you just need to keep your eyes open. The woman that got them, unscrewed them and loaded them on a trailer and took home. That was several dollars worth of lumber. If I see anything like that or hear of it, I will post on here. You may be able to find something like that in OKC. One daughter had a above ground swimming pool that got ruined and she didn't need the decks. The other daughter sold her mobile home and they didn't need the decks.


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## kasilofhome (Feb 10, 2005)

To answer the question on dry milk--yes cooking it is not cheap but think having it and saving gas. I have heard people making yogert with it ==I have not attemped. FYI we lived (3) people on 927 amonth-we got 379 in foodstamps mortage 599.51 and loan to install ele to prop 105. We needed to buy ele, and fuel oil and phone (med reasons) and have gas money for Dr, and shopping (raw event) and we lived 24 miles one way to the nearest real town. Dr was 67 mile round trip. gas is always higher for Alaskans than the other states but HI. WE MADE IT. YOU CAN TOO. The community did help us out Soap, and in time to come they gave the labor to build a real home. We could NOT have made it with out help. We had tough choices and we really lowered our standards to meet our siduation money wise. It did hurt but it did NOT kill.


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## oz in SC V2.0 (Dec 19, 2008)

giddy said:


> ****, be watching craigslist for deck material. This last summer both of my daughters gave away 4-10 x 10 decks and 1- 6 x 8 porch. These were all made out of regular deck boards and lumber screwed together. Two of them were not even 1 year old. The stuff is out there, you just need to keep your eyes open. The woman that got them, unscrewed them and loaded them on a trailer and took home. That was several dollars worth of lumber. If I see anything like that or hear of it, I will post on here. You may be able to find something like that in OKC. One daughter had a above ground swimming pool that got ruined and she didn't need the decks. The other daughter sold her mobile home and they didn't need the decks.


Very true.
At our old house,we bought a 14x20 ish deck for $150 I think,very well made and not very old at all.Didn't cost that much to have it moved to our house either.
Mrs oz wanted to haul it up here but 300+ miles is a little far...LOL.


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## CoonXpress (Sep 20, 2004)

Yvonne's hubby said:


> Ya think it might take quite a while to get that deck built eh???





oz in SC V2.0 said:


> Multiple generations perhaps....:happy2:


Funny part is, it will be multi-generational.
Was my uncle that built the front and started on the back.


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## oz in SC V2.0 (Dec 19, 2008)

I think you should be able to live fine,and live a pretty good 'homesteady' type life..

Good luck to you.


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## CoonXpress (Sep 20, 2004)

Thanks for the advice.

I'll admit, I really could've done a better job describing my situation in the original post. Reread it and does seem like a privileged little kid.

Do have long term plans, 2 years before they can be implemented. Bad report from a former employer is what's really messing me up at the moment, otherwise employment would be a cinch. 

Do have limited income from temp jobs and plasma "donations". 
I don't do too good in communicating during a job interview. Plus have been told a few times that I was overqualified for the job.

Have been working in some form or another since I was 8. Ranch, ADC, custodial, heavy equipment operator, ditch digger, corpse chauffeur, concrete, cook, pizza delivery, yard dog, furniture mover, hydroblasting, dynamite hauler, repossession and oilfield rig driver.
Never been more than 2 weeks between jobs, unless I wanted to be.

*But the main thing I needed was ideas on budgeting $300/month*, lot less than the $2500-$3000/month that I was used to.
Got some ideas, plus some moneymaking ideas also.
Who knows, if one of the moneymaking ideas pans out, might change long term plans.
Plus going to use this thread as a sounding board to see if some ideas are feasible.


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## NickieL (Jun 15, 2007)

****, I really hope you figure it out and do well in this, I hope you keep us all updated regularly about how things are going. A lot of folks here could learn something from your experiences for sure. There are some that just can't imagine living on so little. Others have, and do, and its always nice to get fresh insight into it.:goodjob:


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## CoonXpress (Sep 20, 2004)

TxHorseMom said:


> Have you tried looking for a tiller in a pawn shop? I've seen all kinds of things like that at a the pawn shops around here. Sometimes ebay you can find things like that. We bought a cement mixer off of ebay for $25! It was a "local pickup only" item and we had to drive to the dallas area to get it, but, we timed it with a trip we had to make up there anyway, so no extra $$ for gas.


Going to wait on the tiller, but will rent one to break the ground. I remember how it was just digging holes for fruit trees there.
Would love to get ahold of a cement mixer, have a feeling that going to need a bunch of concrete.


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## CoonXpress (Sep 20, 2004)

Kwings said:


> For kitchen items try looking a ads for Black Friday. I know every year (for the last 4 years at least) walmart has a $4 crockpot for sale. Its a smaller one (not the tiny one) but it works for me. I buy one every year. (not because the others have gone out or anything but i just cant pass them up! and yes i do use them all lol.
> 
> They usually have other stuff to like the small food processors and cups and glasses sets. Also keep an eye out on craigslist and find things on there.


I've done crazy things in my life, but going to the store on Black Fridy isn't one of them.

Want to share how they're being used? I know that I and maybe some others would like to learn about cooking in the smaller crockpots.


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## Lizza (Nov 30, 2005)

You will do ok with your $300 but you will have to kind of play around a little to see what it is you can't live without and what is more important, including certain foods and how many times you go to town. Really though, you should be fine on that money, families deal with that same amount and you are just a single guy. 

Since you are living in a temporary home, I would put money into things you can take with you easily. Cattle panels are wonderful, they are easy to put in and very easy to take with you (they won't keep in chickens but you can put cheap chicken wire over the panels to keep them in, I've heard the wire in the plaster section of the home improvement stores has the best price on chicken wire). Think about putting veggies in large pots to easily take with you. Things like when you go to buy tools, buy the best you can afford and build your stock of tools up from there. I think a chainsaw is very important (of course I live in Oregon in a forest). 

Lastly, I'm not sure how much your bad report from your employer will hurt you. I am an employer and we are very much bound by privacy laws, I can give things like start date and end date but much beyond that is gets dicey, I sure don't want to be sued and privacy is a very big thing now. As long as it isn't a public record (like a felony from theft from your employer) then you should be fine.

Good luck, for some reason I thought you were just starting out in life, starting over sucks, but maybe it makes us stronger in the end, at least that is my hope on the matter, seems like most of us have had to start over at one point or another. 






CoonXpress said:


> Thanks for the advice.
> 
> I'll admit, I really could've done a better job describing my situation in the original post. Reread it and does seem like a privileged little kid.
> 
> ...


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## CoonXpress (Sep 20, 2004)

kasilofhome said:


> Just remember fried rice does not have to be just like take out just hardy and palitable.
> Left over cold (important tip)
> 
> Fry bacon (get ends or ad oil and use any meat say 2oz is enough)
> ...


Can use the first dish as a topping for the rice or even on a bed of drained ramen noodles.

Second recipe is sounds like a satay sauce, (peanut butter, coconut milk, chicken broth, red pepper flakes and some soy sauce is my version), used as a dip for grilled chicken tenders.



kasilofhome said:


> To answer the question on dry milk--yes cooking it is not cheap but think having it and saving gas. I have heard people making yogert with it ==I have not attemped. FYI we lived (3) people on 927 amonth-we got 379 in foodstamps mortage 599.51 and loan to install ele to prop 105. We needed to buy ele, and fuel oil and phone (med reasons) and have gas money for Dr, and shopping (raw event) and we lived 24 miles one way to the nearest real town. Dr was 67 mile round trip. gas is always higher for Alaskans than the other states but HI. WE MADE IT. YOU CAN TOO. The community did help us out Soap, and in time to come they gave the labor to build a real home. We could NOT have made it with out help. We had tough choices and we really lowered our standards to meet our siduation money wise. It did hurt but it did NOT kill.


Thanks about the dried milk, haven't had any of that in almost 30 years, and not much of a milk drinker.


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## NickieL (Jun 15, 2007)

Not much of a milk drinker either, but I buy the dry milk so milk doesn't go to waste! I use it to make waffles, bread, and to add a few more calories to oatmeal when I'm backpacking or working hard.


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## jen74145 (Oct 31, 2006)

michelleIL said:


> "Originally Posted by zong
> 6 pages. He wanted to know how to live on $300 a month, not told where to move to and to get a job. If somebody comes and asks me how to get to Hillsborough I tell them how to get to Hillsborough. I don't tell them it's impossible to get there from here, or how to get to Danville, or even tell them what they need is a Dodge Charger. Or care what set of circumstances led them to want to go to Hillsborough in the first place."
> 
> EXACTLY!!!!!


Seriously?

Here's the thing. We've all had a financial disaster, and those can be far reaching. You get in auto wreck sans insurance, your roof springs a good leak and the insurance company is useless, you get injured or sick enough to need the hospital. Life happens. What if dad died? Maybe OP has a place to live, but this is no long-term solution.

God forbid anyone try to help the OP think ahead. 

Forgive me ever so much if I missed the "OMG you cancer upon the back of society" posts, because I sure didn't see any.

It is a scary thing to live hand to mouth and I would never encourage anyone to do it for long. While acquiring skills, sure. Buit when there are guys with a HS diploma making $20/hour, or guys with a two year degree making $40, choosing to have $300 cash a month while not pursuing a better longterm situation seems shortsighted.

I always thought it was the person who said "Nice idea, but have you thought about doing XYZ that maybe more beneficial to you?" to be the one I wanted to hear from, before I wasted my time on something subpar.


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## Freeholder (Jun 19, 2004)

I may be mistaken, but it seems like somewhere near the front of this long thread, the OP said something about diabetes running in the family? If that's the case, the high-carb 'cheap' diets some people have recommended could end up being a death sentence. Cheap isn't really cheap if it ruins your health! We live on a pretty tight budget (about $250/month for food for the two of us, which isn't really all that bad, but a lot of people spend a lot more than that!) and have to eat low-carb, and it's really not that hard to do. If the OP can get a lot of game and fish to supplement what he buys and raises in the garden, plus have those chickens for eggs (duck eggs are more filling and much more nutritious, if he can manage those instead of chickens), he should be able to do just fine. ****, if you like oriental cooking, go easy on the rice and use plenty of vegetables. 

Kathleen


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## ceresone (Oct 7, 2005)

You DO have to give **** credit for being good natured too--How many people have left here because of negative posts?
I admit, sometimes I give negative answers too--right now, my 32 year old granddaughter is living with her folks-along with her 3 kids--her even older brother lives off his dad- but at least **** is trying..


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## Guest (Nov 12, 2011)

Just because he want's to know how to get by on $300 a month does not imply that he has no goals or aspirations. Look how many people, many here in this very forum, expanded their cost of living to the maximum their income would permit. And more, because of easily available credit. I would think you'll be a lot better off, in the long run, if you learn how to live on $3 hundred a month than you will if you can't survive on less than $3 thousand a month.


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## nodak3 (Feb 5, 2003)

Jen nailed it.

Yes, if someone wants to go to Hillsborough and asks, give them the directions.

But some see the OP's request more of "I want to blow my foot off with a shotgun, so how do I do it" request.

Compassion forbids helping one to do that.


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## Guest (Nov 12, 2011)

Dude(or dudette) I get by on less than $300 a month. I don't see the problem. Yea, I could spend $7,000 a month. But why?? Am I blowing my foot off with a shotgun simply because I'm not wasting every dollar at my disposal??


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## Grandmotherbear (May 15, 2002)

Dried milk can be very useful. Hot cereals leave me ravenous within 1-2 hours- I have to cook them with milk and all you need to do is just ONCE to dump expired milk in your cooking breakfast and realize you have no backup.
Dried milk is used in most bread machine recipes.
The Cornell triple Rich Formula (which I am always harping on- it does a wonderful job of upping protein intake- start every cup of flour called for in your resipe by adding to the bottom of your measuring cup- a tablespoon of wheat germ, a tablespoon opf soy flour, and a tablespoon of dried milk powder. Then fill the cup with your flour on to[p of that. foesn't really affect the taste, and I used this for my bread, pizza crust, pancakes and pasta.


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## giddy (Nov 14, 2006)

****, on the dried milk, Walmart carries Nido in a small can in the mexican aisle. Cost about $3.50 and will make 7 quarts. It is powdered whole milk. If you don't drink or use alot of milk, you can mix this up by the cup and probably refrigerate the can and it will last for quite a while.


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## chewie (Jun 9, 2008)

http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/ a blog that is tons of crockpot info. crockpots would help you i think-- real cheap to run, easy on you to do (load it up and go to work) and you can use the cheapest meat and veggies that aren't 'prime'. can use it to make beans too. 

i do not recall seeing what appliances come with the new place, but if the oven isn't very new, you may do better to get a smaller convection toaster oven. that way you could easily make baked items without heating up a big old oven, work better too.

i do encourage you to eat very well, very healthy. it will serve you well. 

and please do keep posting, i'd love to follow your journey!


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## am1too (Dec 30, 2009)

michelleIL said:


> No Giddy you are right, too much negative energy, I read through here once in a while, but that is it! The OP asked a question and set his needs and expenses out front, and what his dad would cover for all the work he will do and everyone jumped on his back and pounded, like he was trying to live off the taxpayer. His dad is furnishing all the project expenses and his phone, he is responsible for food and other things he wants. His real expenses are covered, which will be building materials. We know those aren't cheap. Both men will benefit from this thing being done. He will be away from his dad and his dad will get his place looked after and fixed up! Sounds good to me! This thread was more about interaction among the responders than what was asked by the OP, but then again, that's what most threads become when ppl ask for advice, and don't necessarily jump on the bandwagon that's offered!


I kinda did the same thing except being responisble for everything plus buying my inheritance.


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## Shygal (May 26, 2003)

nodak3 said:


> Jen nailed it.
> 
> Yes, if someone wants to go to Hillsborough and asks, give them the directions.
> 
> ...



No Jen didnt nail it.
Nowhere did this guy say he was planning to do this for THE REST OF HIS LIFE. Nowhere did he say he didn't have plans for the future, nowhere did he say that is all he was going to do , forever.

He asked a question, and a whole lot of people here decided that it was their place to tell him how to live, what he should be doing, what he should be planning, etc.

Just because you and others think differently than he does, does not make him WRONG and does not give you the right to force him to live the way you live. It doesnt mean your way of life is right for him, and it does not mean that he has to conform to what you think he should.

If that were the case, then a whole lot of you should live the way your neighbors think you should, and give up your animals, buy a mcmansion, go shopping daily for food, etc. I see enough of you posting about how city folks want to move in and make you conform to their way of thinking, yet you feel free to do the SAME THING to this guy.:grit:


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## CoonXpress (Sep 20, 2004)

nodak3 said:


> But some see the OP's request more of "I want to blow my foot off with a shotgun, so how do I do it" request.
> 
> Compassion forbids helping one to do that.


I'd do at work, then be able to get workers comp for it.



Grandmotherbear said:


> Dried milk can be very useful. Hot cereals leave me ravenous within 1-2 hours- I have to cook them with milk and all you need to do is just ONCE to dump expired milk in your cooking breakfast and realize you have no backup.
> Dried milk is used in most bread machine recipes.
> The Cornell triple Rich Formula (which I am always harping on- it does a wonderful job of upping protein intake- start every cup of flour called for in your resipe by adding to the bottom of your measuring cup- a tablespoon of wheat germ, a tablespoon opf soy flour, and a tablespoon of dried milk powder. Then fill the cup with your flour on to[p of that. foesn't really affect the taste, and I used this for my bread, pizza crust, pancakes and pasta.


Don't use much flour right now, but am hoping to change that, at least with egg noodles.



giddy said:


> ****, on the dried milk, Walmart carries Nido in a small can in the mexican aisle. Cost about $3.50 and will make 7 quarts. It is powdered whole milk. If you don't drink or use alot of milk, you can mix this up by the cup and probably refrigerate the can and it will last for quite a while.


I'll try that Nido, have a hard time just using a pint of milk a week.



chewie said:


> http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/ a blog that is tons of crockpot info. crockpots would help you i think-- real cheap to run, easy on you to do (load it up and go to work) and you can use the cheapest meat and veggies that aren't 'prime'. can use it to make beans too.
> 
> i do not recall seeing what appliances come with the new place, but if the oven isn't very new, you may do better to get a smaller convection toaster oven. that way you could easily make baked items without heating up a big old oven, work better too.
> 
> ...


Have the following;
*6c rice cooker w/ steamer basket*, 6qt slow cooker, some kind of countertop oven(never used it or paid too much attention to it), coffee & espresso maker, *electric kettle*, *Bullet processor*, electric skillet, hand mixer and a *toaster oven*. Have a small microwave, but don't know if I'll take it or not. Might have other items there or in storage that I don't remember off the top of my head. Bold is what I'm taking with me.
Do know that I'll need pots & pans and a skillet or 2.

Still have 4-6 months to go, who knows what'll happen between now and then. Might meet some extremely wealthy woman that needs some companionship. :hysterical: Or become the new fry cook at McDs. :sob:


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## CoonXpress (Sep 20, 2004)

am1too said:


> I kinda did the same thing except being responisble for everything plus buying my inheritance.


Did I ever say anything about not being responsible for anything?
Did I leave out a bunch of irrelevant information? Yes I did, and this is what people are making assumptions on.
Could I have worded/phrased the opening post better than what I did? Yes.
Do I really want to live off my dad? Hell no!!! 
Do I have long term plans? Yes, I am planning on becoming dictator of a tropical island.
Just need to start up a solar panel company and have the Feds give me $2B to subsidize it.


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## michelleIL (Aug 29, 2004)

CoonXpress said:


> Did I ever say anything about not being responsible for anything?
> Did I leave out a bunch of irrelevant information? Yes I did, and this is what people are making assumptions on.
> Could I have worded/phrased the opening post better than what I did? Yes.
> Do I really want to live off my dad? Hell no!!!
> ...


Bout time you stuck up fer yerself and called bullcrap what it is! I was beginning to wonder!


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## Belfrybat (Feb 21, 2003)

You can live quite well on $300.00 a month with housing, utilities, and auto taken care of. Just curious why you are waiting so long to move? Seems with the stress between you and your father it might be a good idea to move now. Or is the manufactured home not in good enough shape to manage through the winter?


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## lapizuli (Nov 5, 2011)

Single white male = ineligible for food stamps
Plus haven't asked for any state or federal aid yet.


I don't understand why you say single white males aren't eligible for food stamps. My BF was laid off from work 3 years ago, scrapes by on odd jobs, and gets food stamps. He's single and white....


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## nodak3 (Feb 5, 2003)

Excuse me for breathing, but going on a homesteading forum asking how to live on $300 a month and then proceeding to figure expenses based on phone, tv, internet, etc is going to give folks the impression you are just another freeloader.

My apologies for mistaking your intentions.

Still, said and done, why limit yourself that way when there ARE jobs available?

I do get it that you want to start up a business.

Undercapitolized small businesses have a very high failure rate. 

If you aren't able to start up paying yourself a living wage you ARE undercapitolized.

It may work, and I wish you well.

But I suspect you are shooting yourself in the foot, and will soon be blaming the Dems or Reps or the economy or someone else for doing so.


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## AR Cattails (Dec 22, 2005)

lapizuli said:


> Single white male = ineligible for food stamps
> Plus haven't asked for any state or federal aid yet.
> 
> 
> I don't understand why you say single white males aren't eligible for food stamps. My BF was laid off from work 3 years ago, scrapes by on odd jobs, and gets food stamps. He's single and white....


That's right. My nephew use to have this friend who is truly no more than a freeloader. He doesn't want to work. He was at one time (I don't think he is now) getting $200 a month in food stamps and giving most of it to this family he knew for room and board. He may still be getting the food stamps because he is still living with that family but I don't know for sure because he and my nephew aren't friends anymore.


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## cc (Jun 4, 2006)

I understand the TV thing. DH and I are on SS so $ is always short but since we don't drink, smoke or go to bars so this is our only entertainment. Dish had a special going on with Stars for free for one year and their small package is only about $25.00 a month so maybe you could drop the Netflix. I don't know if they are still doing this but call and talk to them, they will do special things for you if you ask! If you are a reader, you might try and get a Kindle, you can check out books from the library that are downloaded to it for 2 weeks. This will save you a long trip to town. Be sure and read the tightwad tips section for ideas, go back and read the archives.


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## littlebitfarm (Mar 21, 2005)

CoonXpress said:


> Or become the new fry cook at McDs. :sob:


I'm so glad I got a fast food job when I couldn't find a "real" job after college. I bought (and paid in off in 4 years) my 15 acre farm with fast food money and kept myself, 2 dogs, and my horse fed. We didn't eat steak but we did survive and didn't get any $$$$$ handed to us. :hammer:

Kathie


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## Dutchie (Mar 14, 2003)

nodak3 said:


> Excuse me for breathing, but going on a homesteading forum asking how to live on $300 a month and then proceeding to figure expenses based on phone, tv, internet, etc is going to give folks the impression you are just another freeloader.
> 
> My apologies for mistaking your intentions.
> 
> ...


This.


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## Dutchie (Mar 14, 2003)

littlebitfarm said:


> I'm so glad I got a fast food job when I couldn't find a "real" job after college. I bought (and paid in off in 4 years) my 15 acre farm with fast food money and kept myself, 2 dogs, and my horse fed. We didn't eat steak but we did survive and didn't get any $$$$$ handed to us. :hammer:
> 
> Kathie


:clap:

This was my point when responding to the OP the way I did. As presented, his no 1 issue was to get away from his father. Moving to an area with very few jobs, with an unreliable vehicle etc is not the way to go. Instead he should stay in a metro area such as OKC or Tulsa and get any job he can get, as many as he can get. THAT will get him on his way to financial independence. The route he wants to take will bring him down even more into a hole.


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## Jonathan (Oct 26, 2011)

nodak3 said:


> Excuse me for breathing, but going on a homesteading forum asking how to live on $300 a month and then proceeding to figure expenses based on phone, tv, internet, etc is going to give folks the impression you are just another freeloader.


I didn't get that impression, and based on some of the responses I believe that is the case for several others as well. Just because this is the impression you came to and you judged him based on that assumption does not mean that everyone on this site is going to do the same.


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## CoonXpress (Sep 20, 2004)

michelleIL said:


> Bout time you stuck up fer yerself and called bullcrap what it is! I was beginning to wonder!


Was hoping that it would blow over.



Belfrybat said:


> You can live quite well on $300.00 a month with housing, utilities, and auto taken care of. Just curious why you are waiting so long to move? Seems with the stress between you and your father it might be a good idea to move now. Or is the manufactured home not in good enough shape to manage through the winter?


We're waiting to get some bills paid off.
Could've worded it better, frustration of not finding a job is getting to me.



lapizuli said:


> Single white male = ineligible for food stamps
> Plus haven't asked for any state or federal aid yet.
> 
> 
> I don't understand why you say single white males aren't eligible for food stamps. My BF was laid off from work 3 years ago, scrapes by on odd jobs, and gets food stamps. He's single and white....


You're right, should've said single male with a home can't get food stamps.
Did look into it, and only way I'd qualify is if I was homeless.


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## Lizza (Nov 30, 2005)

CoonXpress said:


> You're right, should've said single male with a home can't get food stamps.
> Did look into it, and only way I'd qualify is if I was homeless.


Double check on that. I know it is different state to state but I knew someone (young man) that was bringing in more then $300 a month from a job and was getting (I think) a little over $200 a month in food stamps. 

As to not just answering the one question, I'd like to see one post on these boards that ever just sticks to the one question :hrm: It's part of our charm here on the boards :happy2:


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## giddy (Nov 14, 2006)

I have a single white female friend that owns a mobile home that is unemployed and gets $200 month food stamps. As a matter of fact, she worked for a while for 4 days a week, off 3 and still qualified for $200 a month.

As far as your pots and pans and skillets, you might find some at the salvation army or goodwill or any thrift stores or garage sales. You've got more small appliances than I have, I do have a mixer though!


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## CoonXpress (Sep 20, 2004)

Dutchie said:


> :clap:
> 
> This was my point when responding to the OP the way I did. As presented, his no 1 issue was to get away from his father. Moving to an area with very few jobs, with an unreliable vehicle etc is not the way to go. Instead he should stay in a metro area such as OKC or Tulsa and get any job he can get, as many as he can get. THAT will get him on his way to financial independence. The route he wants to take will bring him down even more into a hole.


My Nissan is very reliable. I can rely on it to get 10mpg, brake slipping due to power steering fluid, power steering pump leaking, fuel fitter clogging up every other tank full of gas, barely getting up a hill, barely getting down a hill and can really rely on the engine to warm up after 30 minutes of idling in the winter.

Who in the world wants financial independence? Don't we all want to sponge a living off of someone else?

Would a '09 Rand McNally atlas show me the proper route to the hole?

What kind of digging tool would you recommend to enlarge the hole I'm getting into? Have a sharpshooter, square point and round point shovels. Do have some heavy equipment rental companies close by if I need a front end loader or an excavator.


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