Comments on: Accidental Frugality – Can You Live on Half of Your Income?

By: corey haim

corey haim — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 20:50:14 +0000

i saved my drug money

By: mao

mao — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 20:48:24 +0000

I live on 10% of my ‘take home’ income which is $1,000 a year. Sure I live on the street and eat garbage but I save $9,000 a year. I figure I’ll do this for about 111 years. Then I’ll be a millionaire. Then I’ll die and have a million dollar funeral.

By: Adam

Adam — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:29:49 +0000

Learning to live on half you income is hard. In these times though it can happen instantly. When you receive a pay cut or are downsized you realize quickly what you really need to survive. It becomes a great time to forge hew spending and saving habits.

By: LiveCheap

LiveCheap — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 04:39:38 +0000

I think the living on 50% is much easier when you don’t have dependents. When I first started out, my wife and I had no problem living off half of one of my monthly paychecks. Tiny apartment, no car, work paid for many meals, and we just didn’t see the need to live extravagantly.

Kids makes it tougher. Mortgage makes it even tougher, which you get because of Kids. The speed at which you could retire if you kept the 50% savings rate up is ridiculous. Living like that for many years can get tough though and suddenly, wham you get a house, kids, minivan, etc…..

For the average family, saving 25% of income would be a huge accomplishment. If I were single, I doubt I would spend more than 25% of my take home and I would probably be working too much.

By: 21 and Broke

21 and Broke — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 03:35:02 +0000

As a starving student, I can barely get by living on 100% of my income. I can’t imagine getting by with 50%.

By: Angie

Angie — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 21:30:11 +0000

Unfortunately I’ll be learning to live on one income the hard way. Through a job loss. It is impossible though as rent and debt payments alone are more then the months take home pay. Guess the key is more income. Previously we were living on about 50% but our salaries were uneven.

By: Zorak Tg

Zorak Tg — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 16:21:14 +0000

I am already doing it and i like it. I dont buy stuff only to show to others or something like that. Just what i need or really want.

By: Peter

Peter — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 08:08:31 +0000

Yes, it depends where you live and how much money you make. But regardless of anything, live within your means. Do not spend beyond your earnings. That would make living less complicated.

By: almost there

almost there — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 06:09:32 +0000

I try to live off half of my retirement, even since my spouse quit her job. Doable, but takes planning.

By: Rainydaysaver

Rainydaysaver — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:15:04 +0000

Echoing what other posters have said, it really depends on where you live — I know here in the NYC metro area, we wouldn’t survive on half of our income (or on one income, as J Money noted). It’s not because we’re in over our heads — it’s because of the cost of living. I’m debating whether we should experiment with the idea of living on a certain portion of our salaries. I think it would be an excellent exercise.

By: Mrs. White

Mrs. White — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 12:38:17 +0000

I understand the “idea”of living on half your income and it would be great. One could save a tremendous amount of money. I think articles like this are designed to make us really think about how we are living. The ideas motivate us to make some changes.

By: Financial Samurai

Financial Samurai — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 06:17:59 +0000

Given bonuses account for anywhere between 60-80% of my total comp, I save between 60-80% of my total income since I just live off of my base.

It can be done guys! It’s just a lifestyle change.

By: Barb

Barb — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 20:26:45 +0000

Oops, sorry about the above post, feel free to delete.

While I’m spending a lot of money on this trip I’m really enjoying doing things I know I won’t be able to when I’m married and with kids. I’m also ridiculously frugal most of the time so I’m not going into debt at all.

Glad you got a job and are starting to earn some ‘real’ money! Good luck!

By: Ellen / MoneyLounge

Ellen / MoneyLounge — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:39:25 +0000

There is a balance of being frugal and being happy. Sometimes it means doing something for cheaper now, so that you have extra money later.

You mention “a vacation after a first few years of work straight out of college” being a bit lavish, though I have to disagree. I read a post recently about a woman who wished she had taken more time to travel abroad during the time that she was used to a lower quality of life. If you aren’t expecting to stay at a 5-star resort on all of you vacations, you can go a lot more places for less. Some people would have no problem sharing a hostel with 20 others and sleeping on a bunk above a stranger, but others, who are used to higher quality wouldn’t dream of staying somewhere without a jacuzzi. My point is, some things are best done when you don’t expect to spend a lot or don’t need to spend a lot. I advocate traveling while you are young enough to do so and you will be accustomed to spending less on the trip itself. (as long as it doesn’t mean you will be broke when you get home)

By: shannon

shannon — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 21:53:36 +0000

this post is great. I love a frugal website that makes the point of saving but not being stupid to the point that you can no longer enjoy life. Your backyard improvement example is a good one. Some things in life may not be frugal per say, but are still worth considering.

By: Jesse

Jesse — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 18:54:45 +0000

When I first started my own business, we were living off practically nothing but didn’t know any better because of where we lived. They was really nothing available for purchase and we had practically no bills. Then I got a real job, and laid off and had to live off the savings for a few months which divided by the time I was out of work equated to about a third of our income, so I think its certainly doable ;)

By: MK

MK — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 14:42:42 +0000

This scenario cames down to how much you make and what kind of cost of living area you are in. Someone working at a McDonalds in New York City vs. Fargo North Dakota have extrememely different costs of living and therefore can afford to spend or save more than the other.

It’d be awesome to live off of half of my income, but for a HCOL area it’s a little difficult. (but not entirely un-doable with some fancy footwork) :-)

By: Tim

Tim — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 12:40:06 +0000

well, it depends on how much you make, doesn’t it? We live on about 20% of our income or $48k/yr, which allows us to live very well for us and we are in the DC area. We have increased our spending a little as our incomes increased, but we still focus on living well within the confines of only one salary, which I suppose equates to roughly 40% of one salary.

By: The Everyday Minimalist

The Everyday Minimalist — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:45:06 +0000

Not buying all that stuff means you don’t need to care for or store that stuff.

It means you don’t need as much money to live which means you retire sooner or live longer. :)

Whichever.

What’s nice about having money is like you said, the options available.

For me, it’s traveling. I love to travel. But it costs money.

So, I cut back on my expenses to about $15,000 a year, but if I make $80,000 that’s all banked for my future retirement & travel.

By: The Digerati Life

The Digerati Life — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 17:22:19 +0000

Doing great Cap! I think it’s all about the “lifestyle”. You don’t have to make that much money to live well and happy.

A few years ago, my household made 2 to 3 times more than we make now doing the traditional 9 to 5 work. But I think we’re generally happier now because we have more flexibility and control our time (we now just “freelance”). I say “generally” because we still face the stresses of erratic income as entrepreneurs, but we do enjoy not having to face office politics anymore.