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Decided to search for Communities to friend

  • Apr. 19th, 2009 at 8:28 PM
Living on Minimum Wage

[info]poor_skills is a very cool community. I decided to do a search on LJ to see if I could find more communities with a similiar vibe.  I didn't join all of these, but I've listed the ones that I found that seemed worth mentioning.

First the active goodies:

[info]dumpsterdiving I've heard this has gotten more popular. I'm not against scavenging, but there are a lot of safety issues to bear in mind. Sometimes people throw perfectly good things out, because they're too lazy to donate them. However a lot of trash is trash. Anyway if you're interested, here's a community for tips, announcing finds, and discussing legal/safety issues.

[info]jobsupport I added this one to my friends page. It's a forum for discussing job/job hunting related questions. Thought it might come in handy.

[info]goodbyedebt community devoted to getting out of debt.
[info]debt_support similiar to above.

[info]wealthandhealth I'm joining this one too. Very new community, but great concept. It's all about eating healthier and saving money at the same time.

[info]budget_travel Traveling on budget. Cool.

[info]brokefolks ...eh, honestly with poorskills it's kind of redundant, but same idea.
[info]personalfinance Spreading the budget love to the middle class.
[info]frugalliving more money saving idea swapping
[info]budgetcuts101  and more

[info]dave_ramsey the unoffical Dave Ramsey LiveJournal community. I am a Dave Ramsey fan, so I thought this was cool.
(Good example of Ramsey's Baby Steps [giant leaps] here: http://community.livejournal.com/dave_ramsey/10475.html )

[info]microliving This seemed cool. Space can get expensive, so learning to get by with less is helpful.



The now dead, but might be revived:
[info]spendthrift was started in 2003, last post 2004...looks likes a good idea that never got off the ground, but it's still technically open.
[info]brightandbroke the intellectual side of poverty, I think, last post is 2007.
[info]growing_food full or mini-garden can help suppliment the diet. Last post 2008.
[info]simplifylife  Simplifying doesn't always save money, but often the two go hand in hand.  Main posting stopped in 2007, but there is one 2009 post hoping to restart things.
[info]food_budget_100  food budgetting, UK version.
[info]starting_small Small scale investing...interesting... my brother is getting close to the stage where he needs to think about investing, so I'll probably be doing some posts on the subject in the next few months.
[info]debtproofliving  I like the name.

There were several location specific "poor" communities like :
[info]poorintampabay[info]poorinbc  ,[info]poorinpdx ,[info]poorskills_au, etc. etc. I was too lazy to check all those out. 
 

$1 meal plan in action

  • Feb. 23rd, 2008 at 7:26 PM
Food

For next few weeks I'm going to post a list of what we buy, so you can see how we're putting the plan to use.

Again, this is a starting point. Those living in areas where the cost of living is high or who have special dietary needs may need to adjust this up to as much as two or three dollars per meal. I believe the plan works better when you have more people involved, like family or roomates. In great part because food is eaten more quickly and therefore it's less likely that something will be spoiled or wasted. 


I know at least one person had said they were going to try the $1 meal plan themselves.  We'd love to hear how that's going if you are trying it.

Breakfast for budget champions

  • Feb. 7th, 2008 at 6:04 PM
Food
::waves nervously at all the new people on our friends list::

I've already got some great feedback guys.  Thanks and keep it up.  :) 

One person suggested that we talk more about the $1 per meal budget, and they're right.  That originally was going to be one of our main focuses, and I've gotten swept up in job hunting hysteria.

I think last I talked about food, I showed you an example of a $3 meal.  I wanted to make the point that $1 was meant to be an average, not an attempt to make you feel restricted every meal.  I had meant to talk next about meals that cost less than $1, so here's that post.

Breakfast tends to be our cheapest meal.  A normal breakfast for me would be a bowl of oatmeal and a glass of orange juice.

I bought a box of 8 single packets Quaker Oatmeal at Big Lots for $2, so one packet cost 25 cents.
A Gallon of Kroger OJ is $3.99 (I'll round that up to $4).  I drink about an 8oz glass...about 16 glass per gallon...again 25 cents.  So that's my 50 cent breakfast.  Even if you add on the 8% sales tax on food... I still save over 40 cents on that particular meal which can be used elsewhere.

The guys vacuum up cereal.  This was cheaper than usual, but I found a big box of Honeycomb at Big Lots for $1 because it expires this month.  (They eat fast enough, I wasn't too worried about it.)  The box says there are 13 servings, but I think 10 is more realistic.  Even so, we're looking at about 10 cents per bowl...Phillip usually adds milk (about half a cup) at $3.59 a galleon/32  rounds up to 12 cents and I think he has OJ, 25 cents...so that's a 47 cent breakfast.

My brother skips the OJ but drinks a glass of milk and eats his cereal dry.  A 35 cent breakfast.

Eggs are also a cheap alternative...we don't go through them as quick, so it's harder for me to find a receipt, but I'm pretty sure they're under $3 per dozen if not closer to $2.

I'm also a big fan of General Mill's Milk and Cereal Bars.  Deals and Dollar General both had a box of six for $2.50 and Big Lots had a box for $2.  (It was a good week for breakfast at Big Lots.)  So we're looking at about 42-34 cents per bar.  Nice grab and go food.

And I'll throw in my other favorite grab and go meal, slimfast.  I usually buy it on sale, so it comes out to about 80-90 cents per can.  (though I've seen it for more).  I don't drink it all the time, but I like to keep it on hand for when I'm running late in the mornings.