What is the least amount of money you feel you could get by on

[Juche]

With the unemployment rate hitting 10% and all, I am curious as to other people's opinions on this subject. Luckily I can live with family, and I have some savings, but I realize not everyone is that lucky.

I think the least I could get by on (w/o being homeless) would be about $500/month. Back in college there were people who had 3-4 individuals sleeping in a 2 bedroom apartment that went for 500-600/month. Combined with utilities that'd make rent/utilities about $200/month if I had 3 roommates.

Food, if I bought from the bulk store and generic store, I could probably do for $120/month (I eat alot).

Bus pass would be about $60. Plus another $120 for misc. expenses (haircuts, hygiene products, clothes, vitamins, etc)

Naturally this wouldn't be a sustainable lifestyle over the long term. There would be no health insurance (I don't know if I could get catastrophic), and no real medical care other than the occasional visit to a low cost clinic and generic prescriptions. Dental visits where I live aren't that bad, maybe $100 for a cleaning and inspection. But still, that would be 1/5 my monthly expenses.

However I wouldn't like it much. Little privacy, bland food choices, not as much freedom to travel. But I think I could get by on that much money for a while if I needed to.

[mnhtnbb]

1. Lots of places 2 BR apartments are more like $700-800/month, unless

they are dumps. And of course in the big cities, even that is laughable.

[hippywife]

2. Not much less than we already do.

We're older and require doctors care and prescriptions and are lucky enough to still have our jobs and health coverage. But we don't make very much and are pretty much toeing that line now as it is while trying to put a little money each month into a very small savings account for when we can't work anymore. If we ever get to retire, which I seriously doubt, it ain't gonna be pretty. Which is part of the reason why we are gardening as much as we can and raising chickens. At least we won't starve that way because we'll know how to feed ourselves for as long as we can manage it.