living on minimum wage

hello everybody. i'm 19 and am living at home with my parents. i go to the local community college at the moment, but i'm about to drop out. i can't continue wasting money on a liberal arts degree, when i could be out making money, however little it may be. i'm ready to leave here and get a place, a tiny tiny place, with my girlfriend. to let you know, i am a practicing buddhist, to the best of my ability that is, and it is extremely difficult to practice at home, and with school constantly on my mind, the homework and what not. this isn't just laziness, i often think about college and the greyness of it all. it isn't the life i want to live. i just want to live a poor, but happy life with my girlfriend. i'm not picky at all about work or shelter, niether is my girlfriend, and she wants to do the same thing as me. i could go on for a while on all of this but i will just get to the point. right now my girlfriend works as a lab aid at the local hospital, shes making about 400 a month, but once shes out of school she can get more hours, so im sure that will bump that up a bit. do you think if i were to get some sort of job, most likely minimum-wage, that i would be able to help her pay for rent, heat, food etc...and live in a little 1 room apt, for say, $375 a month??? i live in a very conservative town and have a very conservative family, and it is impossible to explain my buddhist ideals to such people, so they just think i'm a bum and that i will achieve nothing, and try to make me think that my ideal living is going to be impossible without some sort of high end job and college. i feel like what i want is easier than they say, they are just trying to intimidate me. so please, if one of you are more on my level, help lauren and i reinforce our way of thinking. thank you.

 

Rent food & rugz, Revolt now peasantz.

 

hey brother,

money will always be a problem as long as you think of it as a problem.
maybe communal living is something for you and your girlfriend,
try to find other people with the same ideas, share the rent, grow your own veggies. if there's anything, need some ideas or whatever just pm me.

peace

 

Noone can live on minimum wage.

 

hahaha
behind it maybe...underneath it...but on it? noooo....

 

you forget that my girlfriend is helping to, its not just me and my minimum wage! and about communal living, well, i've thought about that, but, we are shy and don't know people, we are in a tiny town, and also, if there are actually people like us around here, we dont know where they hide.

 

There are things you can do to stretch your dollars such as shopping at yard sales or garage sales or see if your town has a freecycle set up, if your not sure what that is, go check www.freecycle.org and read about it. You can also check and see if any of those storage places has an opening which sometimes includes a small apt. You can alsoconsider a job which gets tips like a pizza driver? Ive known Piuzza delivery drivers that take home a extra 2 or 3 hundred dollars a week from tips. You can also buy certain things in bulk which lowers the cost per unit alot. The point is that you must live within your means. If you all bring in X number of dollars per month, then you can only spend X dollars per month. Alot depends on your style of living, but there are ways to keep it low and people all over the country are living on minimum wage.

 

Never mind accumulating belongings, in many places min wage won't pay the RENT.

 

we have already decided to buy in bulk, and only when needed, we dont plan on buying pointless junk, just grocery shopping when need be. and we have all the furnishing and belongings we need, which isnt much. it is only rent and food im concerned with. this place rents out for like 400 a month. is this possible for us? im sure i can find a job that gets a little over minimum wage(im in ny) and lauren will probably be making 500 or so a month, maybe more. we dont want much. we just want to be able to afford to live.

 

college will always be there, i say save up and start something new. When the time is right for an 'education' go back.

 

Live on the dream, live on that which makes you truly happy.. and enjoy it!

 

no one can decide what's right for you but yourself.

Here are some questions to ask yourself:

are there children in your future (near or far off)? If so consider that expense. It can be very difficult to live on a shoestring with kids. but people do it all the time, it's just hard.

you didn't mention if you or your folks is paying for your schooling. Don't underestimate a 2 year degree. It's nice to have to fall back on if you need it. Can you go back to school later if you decide to? (I don't know why not). Vocational schooling can be the right path for many people, if you're not into the "greyness" of liberal arts.

what if things don't work out with your girlfriend? Living in a tiny place can sometimes make people ... well, antsy. your buddhist ideals may help you out here though. would your parents let you move back home if you had to?

you can make anything in life work if you want it badly enough. there are many many ways to live without a lot of money, but it gets tiresome for some people. Others thrive on it. just make sure and leave yourself some options.

sometimes peace of mind, and living true to yourself is worth any sacrifice, but you may feel differently at 40 than you do at 20. Or maybe you won't.

 

How much is minimum wage in the States? About 5 dollars an hour? Here in Mexico, minimum wage is about 5 dollars... a day!!! And, life in Mexico really isn't much cheaper -if at all- than life in the States; I know this because I've lived in both countries.

 

Mininum wage in Europe is about (in USA$} $52 per hour.

 

well in NY heating your place this winter will be expensive. but it can be done.i make a little bit more than minimum wage now but ive lived on it.

 

You aren't just limited to minimum wage gigs, remember that! Just because you will only be working with your high school degree doesn't mean your choices are that small.

Look around!

 

it varies, but in my state it's $6.15/h.

 

This is what I found on that:

Luxembourg pays the highest rate at £6.04 an hour, followed by the Netherlands at £4.54. Belgium comes in at £4.27 an hour and France lags just behind at £4.17. Russia has the lowest minimum wage in Europe - £0.04p per hour.
The US also has a National Minimum Wage and it is around $6.15 an hour. However, the UK and Greece are the only countries with a minimum wage, which exclude under-18s.

The graph below shows the approximate amounts of Minimum Wage enforced in some developed countries:

The Minimum Wage Rate in Other Countries
(In the equivalent of £ sterling)

Australia
4.77
Belgium
4.56
Canada
3.8
France
3.97
Greece
2.18
Japan
2.41
Netherlands
4.72
New Zealand
3.18
Portugal
1.65
Spain
2.1
USA
3.67

 

That's right on the money

 

If you get a low paying job I think you should claim tax exempt on your w-2 tax form that way they take out just social security and medicare taxs. You could post adds at grocery stores for snow shoveling too for extra cash in winter, lawn mowing and hedge trimming in summer can be good too. Thiers employers that pay straight cash too, you just have to find em. If somehow you get more money than you need or want you can always give some to charity, that might even do the ole karma some good and it always feels good to help others anyway.