The government benefits here consider 200€ on groceries a month (<7€ a day) to be the absolute minimum they can give to ensure living in dignity. Now, I personally can take some cuts here and there (especially since they consider daily portions of meat essential) to save a few bucks, but even if you somehow get all your food out of dumpsters, you cannot save more than those 7€ from this.
That’s not nothing, a lot of people would (and do) consider cutting back on food to save for other stuff. But it would take 50 years to save for a house, if real estate didn’t outpace inflation. Cutting back on food can help if you live well above your means, but if you are barely surviving, it won’t make you rich any time soon, just gives you money to spend on things to replace the enjoyment of an easy full belly.
You’re right that cutting food costs is hard for someone already spending near the minimum, but the post is about the difference from eating lunch and drinking coffee prepared and possibly delivered by others. In some cities, that’s probably about $20/workday, or $100/workweek, for about $5000/year. If we throw in dinner, the cost difference might be another $20/day, not limited to workdays.
Being able to cook good meals at home is a life skill worth mastering, and pays off in both personal finances and in long term health and enjoyment. People should still want to be able to do this, regardless of financial status.
Most people don’t want to audit themselves this way. It’s too embarrassing and humiliating to realize how stupid you are with your money and that your struggles are entirely of your own making… better to just never look at blame other people for ‘stealing’ your money.
And what’s dumber is your bank probably has tools in your credit/debt card account that does this shit for you automatically.
And the demo who whines the hardest about this is not the people who are legit poor, it’s the upper middle class who think starbucks and sweet green is a daily necessity they can’t live without, but yet somehow wonder why they can’t seem to ever save enough for major purchases like cars and homes… and often they further use this ‘despair’ to justify further indulge in wasteful spending. Further, they tend to justify this absurdity by citing like luxury high end properties as the cost of a home, rather than properties that cost like 1/4 of those that they could easily buy, but they don’t want to make the ‘sacrifice’ of having to not live in the most desirable/expensive areas of a HCOL area. Like, just because you can’t afford a 2 million dollar apartment today, doesn’t mean there aren’t 500K ones 20-30minutes away from where you currently live that you could easily afford with a little fiscal discipline.
Instead of… stop the wasteful spending, keep the savings, invest it, and all the sudden in a few years you have way more money than you did before and owning a home seems far more approachable.
Also, talking back to people whining about their money problems… fastest way to end that relationship or friendship. Folks will just HATE you and call you an evil oppressive privileged person… rather than admit that maybe they have a spending problem.
My weekly 2 person household necessities are something like $175 USD for home prepped meals, cleaning supplies, charging my car, and shower goods. If i cut back on stuff like conditioner and some vegetables or meats for processed stuff, i think i could save maybe $20 extra a week (until more price gouging/tarrifs/electricity increases due to data centers/whatever.)
The cheapest house on offer within 30 miles (48.2 km) of my job is $78,000 for 576 square feet (53.51215 square meters? Idk how europe measures floor area).
So if i struggle quite a bit, in 75 years, geriatric me and my geriatric wife can live in an extremely tiny house (assuming its still on offer and still costs 78,000, and if i invested that money the stock market didnt crash and and and and)
(Math: $78,000 / $20/week = 3,900 weeks. 3900/52 weeks in a year = 75 years. Im begging for a progressive world-policing power to invade us and force us to have free healthcare/tax the billionaires/slash the defense budget/tax those with multiple owned houses to subsidize housing)
The government benefits here consider 200€ on groceries a month (<7€ a day) to be the absolute minimum they can give to ensure living in dignity. Now, I personally can take some cuts here and there (especially since they consider daily portions of meat essential) to save a few bucks, but even if you somehow get all your food out of dumpsters, you cannot save more than those 7€ from this.
That’s not nothing, a lot of people would (and do) consider cutting back on food to save for other stuff. But it would take 50 years to save for a house, if real estate didn’t outpace inflation. Cutting back on food can help if you live well above your means, but if you are barely surviving, it won’t make you rich any time soon, just gives you money to spend on things to replace the enjoyment of an easy full belly.
You’re right that cutting food costs is hard for someone already spending near the minimum, but the post is about the difference from eating lunch and drinking coffee prepared and possibly delivered by others. In some cities, that’s probably about $20/workday, or $100/workweek, for about $5000/year. If we throw in dinner, the cost difference might be another $20/day, not limited to workdays.
Being able to cook good meals at home is a life skill worth mastering, and pays off in both personal finances and in long term health and enjoyment. People should still want to be able to do this, regardless of financial status.
Most people don’t want to audit themselves this way. It’s too embarrassing and humiliating to realize how stupid you are with your money and that your struggles are entirely of your own making… better to just never look at blame other people for ‘stealing’ your money.
And what’s dumber is your bank probably has tools in your credit/debt card account that does this shit for you automatically.
And the demo who whines the hardest about this is not the people who are legit poor, it’s the upper middle class who think starbucks and sweet green is a daily necessity they can’t live without, but yet somehow wonder why they can’t seem to ever save enough for major purchases like cars and homes… and often they further use this ‘despair’ to justify further indulge in wasteful spending. Further, they tend to justify this absurdity by citing like luxury high end properties as the cost of a home, rather than properties that cost like 1/4 of those that they could easily buy, but they don’t want to make the ‘sacrifice’ of having to not live in the most desirable/expensive areas of a HCOL area. Like, just because you can’t afford a 2 million dollar apartment today, doesn’t mean there aren’t 500K ones 20-30minutes away from where you currently live that you could easily afford with a little fiscal discipline.
Instead of… stop the wasteful spending, keep the savings, invest it, and all the sudden in a few years you have way more money than you did before and owning a home seems far more approachable.
Also, talking back to people whining about their money problems… fastest way to end that relationship or friendship. Folks will just HATE you and call you an evil oppressive privileged person… rather than admit that maybe they have a spending problem.
My weekly 2 person household necessities are something like $175 USD for home prepped meals, cleaning supplies, charging my car, and shower goods. If i cut back on stuff like conditioner and some vegetables or meats for processed stuff, i think i could save maybe $20 extra a week (until more price gouging/tarrifs/electricity increases due to data centers/whatever.)
The cheapest house on offer within 30 miles (48.2 km) of my job is $78,000 for 576 square feet (53.51215 square meters? Idk how europe measures floor area).
So if i struggle quite a bit, in 75 years, geriatric me and my geriatric wife can live in an extremely tiny house (assuming its still on offer and still costs 78,000, and if i invested that money the stock market didnt crash and and and and)
(Math: $78,000 / $20/week = 3,900 weeks. 3900/52 weeks in a year = 75 years. Im begging for a progressive world-policing power to invade us and force us to have free healthcare/tax the billionaires/slash the defense budget/tax those with multiple owned houses to subsidize housing)
What is your income?
Less than it needs to be and feeling less every day. Single income household (due to disability) and well below median in my area
start streaming about it and monetize it
Lol