genuinegirly

This is a thought that returns to my mind frequently.

How much money do you spend?
Do you have a minimum monthly budget that you cannot possibly go below?
Do you find that your frequency of shelling out cash varies depending upon your community or living situation?
How long have you gone without spending a penny or using resources that someone had to pay for?

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I spend more money now than I did a few months ago.
Currently, living with family:
Each week, I spend roughly $40 fill my car with gasolene to allow me to drive back and forth between classes, family, friends, and home. The distances between us are not quickly taken by bicycle. If they were, I would still need to spend money on greater quantities of food to fuel my body and more regular maintenance for my bike. We use electricity in our own home to communicate via the internet, to play electronic games, to listen to music, to cook, to cool our home in the summer, and to provide light in the evenings - we do not pay for this. We use piped-in water to shower, drink, and nourish the garden - we do not pay for this. I purchase vitamin-fortified food for my rabbit pet to go along with her scavanged greens. We pay monthly for a cell phone service. We do not pay for rent, but do pay for health and auto insurance.

Our combined monthly budget is roughly $400.

A few months ago, living in Berkeley:
I walked to and from nearly everything, as the distance could be traveled under a half hour for regular every-day activities, and no more than two hours for special excursions. Tt and I spent roughly $40 every two months to fuel his vehicle, which we drove to and from the grocery store and church in inclement weather. The monthly utility bill was no greater than $15 each month. Laundry was a maximum of $1.50/week, though often less as we used a clothesline. We paid monthly for cell phone service, cable, internet, rent ($650), health insurance and car insurance.

Our combined monthly budget was just over $800.

We spend $250 more each month currently on incidental expenses than we did when we were living in a larger, more dense community.
Fascinating.

How long have you gone without spending a penny or using resources that someone had to pay for?
I cannot think of a time when I have. Even when I have gone backpacking, I still had to pay for my monthly cell phone plan and utilities base fees.

__________________
"Sometimes I have to remember that things are brought to me for a reason, either for my own lessons or for the benefit of others." Cynthetiq

"violence is no more or less real than non-violence." roachboy

Willravel

Monthly? I dunno, maybe $2500ish. It depends on quite a few different variables. Around the holidays it goes up quite a bit due to presents and donations to charity.
Yes, but it's frighteningly low. I could disconnect internet, phone, cell, and tv. I could almost completely stop using electricity and gas. I could even reduce my food budget to the extreme. I'd guess I could survive on less than $200 a month if I absolutely had to.
Very much so, yes.
That's not really how the world works anymore. You have to eat, which even if you grow your own food means using someone's seeds and some water. Since the introduction of currency, money has been necessary for life. Maybe I'm misunderstanding the question?

Baraka_Guru

How much money do you spend?
Too much. I try not to spend money outside of bills and other necessities because I want to pay off my debt. I don't spend the same amount each month, but outside of "necessary" expenses, I probably spend $100 to $200 per month. It's much higher when you include my SO's spending, but it wouldn't be much more than double.

Do you have a minimum monthly budget that you cannot possibly go below?
I will only speak for my side of the responsibility. Our rent is $1,200. On top of that, I have debt payments, insurance, transit, and bank fees, plus a few other little things. This means I couldn't get my (side of the) budget below approx. $1,800 a month.

Do you find that your frequency of shelling out cash varies depending upon your community or living situation?
I think so. I can't really comment because my situation hasn't really changed.

How long have you gone without spending a penny or using resources that someone had to pay for?
I often go days without spending a penny. If I have a good week, I won't have spent anything. On average, though, I probably spend $5 to $10 a week on small things such as snack food, lunch items such as cereal, and tea bags at health-food stores. Occasionally I will buy lunch, but I've gotten out of that expensive habit.

But I do use resources such as electricity and public transit. So maybe this doesn't count....

__________________
Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

genuinegirly

Ah- but you could potentially gather seeds and collect water from natural sources such as rain.

Nope, you're not misunderstanding the question. That's exactly what I was asking.

Exactly - there is always some expense, is there not?

For further discussion: Is currency a necessity for an advanced society?

__________________
"Sometimes I have to remember that things are brought to me for a reason, either for my own lessons or for the benefit of others." Cynthetiq

"violence is no more or less real than non-violence." roachboy

snowy

Well, for me it depends on how much money I have coming in. There are certain expenses that get cut if I'm not making much money. I drive my car less if I have less income and ride my bike or walk more (though I try to do this regardless). Right now I'm spending about $20/week on fuel for my station wagon. I won't go to the grocery store as often and will rely on what's in the pantry more. But given that I am the one with the free time to go grocery shopping (my SO goes to school and works, so he has an 8-hour day and then homework after that), my SO sometimes gives me money to go buy us groceries if I'm low on cash to do so.

There are bills I HAVE to pay, such as student loans, car insurance, and rent, every month. Once those are paid, the remaining $$$ goes into savings. My bills total about $525 every month, so I have to bring in more than that to make sure everything gets paid. This means working several jobs. I babysit, work at a church nursery, clean an office, nanny, substitute as an aide for the school district, and do other work for people as needed.

The fact is, there is always something I have to pay for. Right now I'm coming out a bit ahead and I'm able to put some money away for later, but with the kind of work I do, my income is not at all reliable (I have 3 reliable income sources that make me just over $600/mo), so I try to save what I can so as to have a cushion for when times aren't as good. There are weeks (such as last week) where I work nonstop, and then there are weeks (like this week) where I hardly work at all.

__________________
If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Baraka_Guru

How else would I pay my rent?

__________________
Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

Willravel

I've tried that, it's a lot more difficult in a city than one might think. The amount or annual rainfall that hits my roof and goes down my gutter is nowhere near enough to water a garden large enough to feed an adult male and common visitors. If I had a larger ability to gather rainwater or was closer to a stream or river, I suppose it might be possible.
I don't think so. Still, currency is necessary for a large society.

Before the agrarian revolution, humans were hunter gatherers. We lived in packs and tribes, and we simply used a "for the good of the whole" type of attitude towards goods. There was trade between tribes, but money was something that wasn't developed until people were separated from the resources.

Interesting question.

dlish

sex.


some really interesting discussions in here but unfortunately, the first word of my post awaits..so ill have to come back to you all tomorrow . this thread can wait.

nice to see you back will.

__________________
An injustice anywhere, is an injustice everywhere

I always sign my facebook comments with ()()===========(}. Does that make me gay?
- Filthy

lotsofmagnets

depends on how good looking you are

__________________
mother nature made the aeroplane, and the submarine sandwich, with the steady hands and dead eye of a remarkable sculptor.
she shed her mountain turning training wheels, for the convenience of the moving sidewalk, that delivers the magnetic monkey children through the mouth of impossible calendar clock, into the devil's manhole cauldron.
physics of a bicycle, isn't it remarkable?

Baraka_Guru

I'm not fucking the entire staff of the holding company, so you can forget it.

__________________
Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

Willravel

Thanks.

Baraka, don't knock it till you've tried it.

telekinetic

Currency allows specialization, without specialization we are stuck at an agrarian level of society.

Are we talking about bills here?
Mortgage: $1200
Misc utilities: Dunno off top of head, wife pays them
Home owners insurance: $100
Car #1: $280
Car #2: $320
Car Insurance: $375
Cell phone family plan with data: $140
Internet: $40

My gas expense varies from $200 to $400 a month, and food from $500 to $800...and don't get me started on diapers!

What's that come out to, $3600ish? The rest lately has been spent buying stuff for the new house and buying tickets for a vacation. This is all after 401k and medical, I don't count those since they are out by the time I see my paycheck.

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twisted no more

ASU2003

I spend about $1100 on my house and utilities each month
$0 for cable, internet, car payments, parking, tolls, and a bunch of other stuff.
$200 food
$30 gas
$25 cell phone
and not a whole lot else. I used to track it better than I have been recently.

If I really tried, I could live without money, but not with the life I currently live.

An individual might be able to buy their way out of spending money. You would need to build a boat house or a shack in the middle of no where and not dock it anywhere, but get your power through solar panels and wind turbines. You would also need to not need anything repaired

The only way you could get rid of all money is to have a true communist economy. Even then, people will still barter and sell their bodies or services for other goods and things they want. Now, if there was a extremely high tech place where everything you wanted, you could have and there were no shortages of anything (even sex)... Then it may work. But the population would have to be reduced by 99.9% and machines would have to be really intelligent and willing to work for the remaining humans.

Fotzlid

Some weeks more than others. It depends on our schedules and what project needs doing around the house. When we are both off, we tend to spend more than if one or both of us are working.

We don't really have a budget. Our bare minimum expenditures are probably near $4k per month between the mortgage, 2 car payments, insurance, credit cards, full cable and a few other things.

Same living situation for the past 14 years and only lived in 2 different communities in that time. The expenses only went up when we bought the house.

I've gone 3 days without spending anything other than for electricity.

jewels

How much money do you spend?
Not much these days.
Do you have a minimum monthly budget that you cannot possibly go below?
Minimum was always at least $2,000 until a couple of months ago.
Do you find that your frequency of shelling out cash varies depending upon your community or living situation?
Yes. I'm not used to cooking every single night or not picking up CDs, makeup, clothes for the girls and other spontaneous "normal" items I always purchased.
How long have you gone without spending a penny or using resources that someone had to pay for?
The past month is the longest I've gone without spending a penny of my own. Before this, I've never not contributed in one way or another. I didn't work outside the home for nearly three years when two of the girls were born sixteen months apart. But even then, I cared for other babies full-time from our home.
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__________________
We are always more anxious to be distinguished for a talent which we do not possess, than to be praised for the fifteen which we do possess.
Mark Twain

petre

i'm spending around 1200 bucks for stupid things like food, vending machines, orange juice, parking, rent, arcade, charity etc each month, using future college fees, coz I'm not working anymore and don't have an income...I'll be dry soon, and i guess then i could go on and on without spending much, cause I won't have any to spend anymore.

But then again, I can't possibly go on through the months without finding a job can't I? Maybe once i get one, I'll spend more again, so the timeframe where I don't spend money will be drastically reduced. That won't be the last of it tho, surely once I start spending money continously I would overspend, which consequently will leave me bankcrupt, so when I'm bankcrupt, I'll probably lose my job and stop spending money, thus increase the timeframe where I could go on without spending money, cause I'll be out of money as I'm bankcrupt. If only I had a few trillion dollars....

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With great power, comes the great temptation to break stuff.