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Where do you live that you think people can get by on 20K a year?
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Seattle. I worked a minimum wage job for one year, and at the end of the year I had saved up enough to make a 20% down payment on a condo.
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According to the 2008 federal poverty guidelines, a family of 4 would be in poverty in the continental US. $21,200 is the line.
2008 Federal Poverty Guidelines
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That's pretty cool. If you are below the poverty line, it means you hardly pay any taxes at all. I am actually making pretty good money now, but I keep myself below the poverty line through a combination of 20% salary contributions to my 401K and tax deductible interest payments on 3 condos.
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What do you think a moderate mortgage payment +taxes+insurance costs?
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$482.52
In case you are wondering where I got that figure, I just copied and pasted it from my last mortgage payment.
$495.00/yr for an annual environmentally friendly, cost effective, earth saving, tree hugging bus pass.
Browsing Twelve Month PugetPass I pay around $40/month
I can get a dozen eggs for $1.25, or about $.10 per egg. A full dinner of top ramen costs me about $.50. I can get several months worth of pasta at costco for $10. And I can make a mean pasta sauce out of a $1 can of Alberstons brand tomato paste, and appropriate seasonings.
Cereal is pretty cheap when you get the big bags of it instead of paying for the stupid little boxes, and sometimes I splurge on bacon at $2.49/lb and milk at 2.99/gal.
Altogether I would say I spend about $5/day on food. That would be about $150/month.