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How to live on $432 a month in America

(shagbark.substack.com)
526 points cactusplant7374 | 2 comments | 23 May 25 16:40 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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TrackerFF ◴[23 May 25 21:22 UTC] No.44076735[source]▶
I looked through those numbers, and immediately thought to myself - hope you don't need to see a doctor for anything serious, or go to a dentist for that mater.

FWIW, I grew up in rural nowhere (population 150, nearest town 45 miles away) - and I honestly don't know how anyone can live out in the boonies without a car. Taking the bus that goes 3 times a day is one thing, needing to move stuff is another thing. I mean, obviously there are plenty of people that do manage - but sooner or later you'll become completely dependent on others for certain types of transportation.

Also, there's clothes, house maintenance, and lots of other things.

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1. noisy_boy ◴[24 May 25 04:17 UTC] No.44078733[source]▶
These are "young people" things. The older you get, the more dependent you are on the society and it's benefits.
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2. Barrin92 ◴[24 May 25 14:37 UTC] No.44081416[source]▶
Not close from my parents home is a small farm collective of mostly ex hippies who have been living there communally for decades with people well into their 80s now. It was so successful that the city, taking that as inspiration, ran trials of creating more autonomous senior communities that are largely self supervised, including even people with dementia.

From what I heard it works extremely well, not the least because it's more dignified and keeps people engaged, active, and self reliant. The modern notion of the drooling, dependent nursing home patient is a product of our (artificially!) atomized system.