How to Live on a $20,000 Salary

I have been watching videos on how to survive on a low income, and it seems impossible. The videos I found were make-believe budgets where the rent allocation was about $300/mo, which is unrealistic, or the earners only had to pay for themselves, which is not my situation.

I have a family with two children, no husband. One of my children I only have half the time. I also have three cats and two guinea pigs. I need to learn to budget with all of this. I'm not getting rid of my animals.

Here are some tips from my own personal experience that we can use:

1. Take mass transit. I know this is difficult with children, and I personally can't do this, as I have to pick up my kids from school and bring them back to work with me. But, if you're able to do this, you can save a lot of money. Where I live now, the cost of a monthly bus pass is around $40. The cost of car insurance is around $125 and I spend about $160/mo on gas.

125+160=285 285-40= 245

That's a $245 savings every month that can be used elsewhere, put into an emergency fund, or towards paying off debt.

2. Make sure you have Medicaid. If we're talking just you, you might not qualify, but if you're a family, you qualify. So please apply. The application is different in every state, so you'll have to do your own research. Where I live, it's really easy to apply online and I just had to submit my last three paystubs to prove my need and I got myself and my two kids covered. The kids can see the doctor without paying anything, but sometimes I have to pay $6 over four months for my own medical visits. We can use the emergency room and urgent care without paying a dime. If you don't have this, please get it. Medical bills will be your downfall if an accident happens and you don't have Medicaid.

3. Make sure you have Food Stamps (SNAP). It's different for every state, so research how to apply for these things in your state, just like for Medicaid. It's not meant to cover all of your food costs, but should cover a lot of them. Honestly, it covers all of my food costs, unless I eat out. Another bonus is that you can buy gifts with food stamps, as long as the gift has food in it. So, those hot cocoa + mug sets you see at Wally World, you can buy those with food stamps.

4. Also, in my community, the Humane Society will provide free cat and dog food for low income families. I just got accepted into this program and can't wait to pick up my free bucket of food. One of my cats has a special diet, so I'm hoping this free food will feed the other two cats as I have to spend $115/three weeks on my one cat's special diet. The Humane Society, like the food stamp people, also say that this food should supplement and not be the entirety of the food we feed our animals.

5. Don't buy new things. No more new stuff! If you can help it, don't buy presents, but make things, instead. It's a lot cheaper if you can create something small yourself to give then to buy something new. And, it will give you joy to create something yourself. Of course, you have to buy things to make things, but you can buy some things to make a lot of things. For example, you can buy a skein of yarn to crochet loofahs as gifts. You can even get yarn at the dollar store. And people love to receive home-made items, too.

6. Grow your own food and/or hunt. This, along with food stamps, will bring down your cost of food. I, personally, don't hunt but I don't eat meat, either. I do, however, grow some of my own food. I've grown lettuce, kale and carrots, mostly to feed my guinea pigs. Fortunately, I grew a lot of carrots this year, and they can be harvested a little at a time, so there's enough for everyone. And they taste so good! They taste better than store bought carrots. If you don't have your own property to grow stuff, then locate a community farm where you can grow alongside others. We have a few here and there in my community, luckily. If you don't have one in your area, maybe you can start one. You'll need to do some research, of course, but it would be worth it and you could help others, too. Alternatively, you can grow in pots in your house. I haven't tried this, but if I could grow greens year-round, I'd never have to buy lettuce for my guinea pigs. Also, you can buy starts with food stamps. It's the free lettuce that keeps on giving! A lot of times you can get these at farmer's markets, and the markets near me accept food stamps. So keep an eye out for those, maybe it's the same in your neck of the woods.

7. This might not work for you, but if you can help it, then don't eat meat. Meat and meat alternatives are really expensive. Try eating beans or tofu instead to get your protein. There are a lot of recipes online. They're a lot cheaper, too, and it's probably the reason I don't use up all of my food stamps. Nuts also provide protein, but they're pretty expensive.

8. Create a budget, and STICK TO IT! This is the hardest thing, to be honest. My biggest problem is that I'm tired a lot and so eat out instead of making my own food. Guys, we get food for free! I don't know why I can't just make my own food and make my food to go. I think it is wise to budget for a little food out, just so it's there and you don't have to worry. But, sadly, it doesn't really fit into my budget... Maybe if I took mass transit... I wish.

Anyway, be realistic with your budget, too. If cat food costs $300/mo, put down $300/mo, not $200, somehow thinking it'll get cheaper. (By the way, my vet says Friskie's pates are good for cats, even though it's super cheap.) If there are places where you can cut back, then cut back. For example, in subscriptions. Do you need to play Final Fantasy XIV every day when you get home from work? (Yes, I do!) You might really want these things, but if they're not a necessity, you need to learn to let them go. (*cries wholeheartedly*) I've even gone without internet, which seems impossible, but I did it, and I might do it again.

9. Subscriptions. I, honestly, feel like I should unsubscribe from everything I've subscribed to. Why am I paying Apple $9.99/mo to store my photos? There has got to be a better way. Some subscriptions, like for cat food and hay, save you money in the long run with their 5% auto-ship discounts and the like, and, it makes it easy to budget for them. It's difficult with these because sometimes delivery comes when none is needed. One just needs to keep up-to-date with subscriptions like these (use the pause button, they have them!) so that we don't spend money that we don't need to spend. Other subscriptions, like Netflix, should just be cancelled. Try Redbox at your local grocery store, instead. If I cancel my internet, I will cancel my FFXIV gaming subscription. Although, it brings me a lot of joy, soif I can budget for it, I will keep it. Sometimes, you just need things that make you happy. But, make sure they're things you can afford.

Does that make sense? Basically, subscribe to things you need that can save you money and help you budget but don't subscribe to anything you don't need unless it brings you a ridiculous amount of joy and you can afford it.

10. There's this thing called the Affordable Connectivity Plan which helps to pay for internet or cell phone service. You can use it for one or the other, but not both. Right now, I pay $30/mo for phone, but might switch to a $15/mo plan, and $30/mo for internet. If I can figure out how to get the ACP on my internet (I can't seem to figure it out with my carrier... I think if I try to unsubscribe, they'll try to hook me up), then I would only pay $15/mo for phone.

I hope these tips are helpful for you. It's really hard living on a low income. It can be kind of depressing, too. But, if you make that budget, and find some things you can enjoy, like my FFXIV subscription, then there's hope. And, we don't have to be always stuck this way.

Look, I'm going to start taking money from every paycheck for an emergency savings fund and possibly a little bit of money to invest, so that I can gain more funds. I only plan on starting with $5 for the first paycheck, $10 for the next, and then we'll see. But, I'm also going to put it into a high interest savings account so it can earn me a little bit more money. I haven't done all the research on investing yet, but I plan to invest as little as possible, possibly $5, if I can. Everyone online makes it sound like you have to invest or save huge amounts of money, but I think if we start small, we can build our way up. It's better than nothing and I think we can use all the help we can get.

Thanks for reading! If I come up with any more money saving hacks or suggestions for how to live on our type of income, I'll write again! Let's do this together!! Please leave a comment if you've read this and let me know if you think any of this will help you, or just let me know that you're doing this with me. It's tough, but it's a little better to know we're not alone in this!