Anyone else living on $2,000 or less a month?

Ayup. My kids and I are living on less than $2000 a month. I do enjoy your blog, Lynn!

Di (a Thriller)

That's right. After taxes, I live on $2,000 a month. As a young journalist now living in a rural part of the United States, I raised in an affluent area of Portland.

In the past year, it's been quite an adjustment.

When I graduated college, my parents combined income was over $175,000 a year. That's now besides the point - I now see none of that. But becoming used to a simple lifestyle has been tough. No more family trips to Europe or the Caribbean for Christmas Break. I can kiss fine wine and dinners out goodbye.

My parents paid all but $10,000 of my college, now those are subsidized as student loans.

This is how I've mapped out my monthly budget:

$2,000 monthly income
-$200/student loans
-$250/auto expenses (gas, insurance, and loan)
-$450/apartment
-$45/cell phone bill
-$200/food
-$50/utilities
-$100/Netflix, clothes, other entertainment
-$0/Internet included in apartment
_____________________________________
$1,245 = living expenses

At the end of the month, after all bills paid I am left with around $700. My parents always taught me to PAY YOURSELF before anything else. I always put $400 into an investment portfolio, $200 into an emergency savings account, and the other $150 into my travel fund.

However, with the job that I have it's difficult to get time off so I am watching that travel fund grow (though with high gas prices I might be borrowing from it soon).

What do I recommend?

-If you're going out with friends, avoid the costly drinks and drink cheap at home, then go out for a drink or 2
-Don't be picky about name brands
-Don't drink at Starbucks
-Don't join a gym, become a jogger or exercise at home
-Don't date expensive woman (I mean a girl you have to take out to pricey restaurants)
-PAY YOURSELF EVERY MONTH SO YOU CAN GET AHEAD!

We only have two children, spend $250 for food every two weeks, and often fall short! We usually spend $110/month just for milk. Only a little over a year ago, we only needed $160 every two weeks... We do, however, manage to live on less than $2000/month. No problem if you have a tiny mortgage and no other debts.

I am trying to figure out what it would take to only have $50 in utilities... We are now paying 11.5 cents per kwH. Those $50 would buy only 435 kwH around here! Even during spring/fall, we never use less than 750 kwh/month. During the summer our usage jumps to 1200-1300 kwh (Have to have an A/C in the humid South ). And in the winter... Well, living in an all electric house, our usage in the winter months can be as much as 1800 kwh!

My recommendation for frugal living:
Don't incur any debt. Save up for what you need and only buy what you can afford. That goes especially for vehicles and homes