Living off the Federal Minimum Wage | Is It Possible?

For the entire month of June, I lived off the federal minimum wage. We were able to do without making many changes to our normal spending and with money left over at the end of the month.
The only topic that I didn't discuss in the video was health insurance. Health insurance is such a complicated topic and I'm not sure what a reasonable premium is for someone making minimum wage. I actually just got health insurance (July 1st) after two years of not having any. For my husband and I, our combined monthly premium is $220. However, there are a lot of low cost options for people making low incomes. By searching available plans through the health care market place, it seems like someone making minimum wage in TN qualifies for free or very low cost health insurance - some of the plans had very low deductibles as well.
Favorite Books on Finance:
The Millionaire Next Door - amzn.to/3mXrw3d
Rich Dad Poor Dad - amzn.to/3kTJWPM

[@biancalucia8388]

I spend so much money on groceries and I tend to eat out almost everyday

[@Ms.P.Sharma]

Omg. How are people actually living with that kind of money. One thing is that employers are taking advantage of people, but that it's OK for the government is just mind blowing. The minimum I ever earned was around $6/hr....back in 1996. Working as a booking worker, for a ferry company the country I live in. Then I became nurse, and my hourly salary raised to $15/hr + etc for late evening or night hours, if I had night shift, AND extra if I was working weekends too. So my hourly salary was at least $22+, and it was back in 2002. Currently, over twenty years later, it's currently $31/hr and again with the extra plusses, it's well above $40/ hr. Our country is quite expensive to live in, so we need that kind of money. We also have law in place to avoid that workers are being taken advantage of. I don't get why the government isn't doing anything, for their people. I don't get why the employers expect the customer to pay their employees with tips, for them to take care of their basic needs.

[@cramsa]

I live on 3/4 of minimum wage… BUT I have a payed off house and am 100%!debt free… I live in about $10,000/yr and make about $50,000/yr… I save 80% of my take home pay after taxes, 401k, healthcare plan.

[@annl5200]

This was an optimistic look at the problem. Now put the fact of a chronic disease and the attendant medications and dietary requirements into one of your household members. The message is Arkansas or Tennessee are not a good places to have Celiac disease, Type 1 diabetes, Rheumatoid Arthritis, etc. If either of you had this situation, you would be in serious trouble! Possibly facing death if a critical health situation occurred. Try this experiment with that curve in it!!

[@davidbenjamin7165]

Get a cdl and get paid $20 an hour to take road trips while listening to music.

[@FirstPrinciplesFirst]

Kudos for this video. This kind of frugality is commonplace among Asian families (wherever they are in that huge continent) and it serves them well. It's unfortunate that this kind of frugality in general is looked down upon as "cheap" in this country.

[@faizali9247]

I love watching your videos. It’s valuable.

[@jessicah3450]

You didn't feed your dog in your budget or consider hygiene products like soap or menstrual products, laundry, which are very real expenses. Yes, even for the reusable ones! A bottle of laundry detergent is close to $20. You only considered human food. The thing is when you are living off of these low wages consistently, more than one month, you have to buy things like shampoo and food for your pets. You also considered car insurance but not gas, and at some point, your car will need maintenance and repairs. You will need medical care at some point. Okay to do for a month when you are already set up comfortably, but do it consistently. Plus most people don't have relatives who gift them things when they are starting out on their own. Hopefully you did realize how privileged you are.

[@VoidwalkerKrel]

Thank you so much for your experience! I’m not sure if anyone else mentioned this but you might have spent more on groceries than you expected because you dropped those times eating out each month and also you husband was working from home. You tend snack more lol :). Again thank you so much for continuing sharing your experiences.

[@Aurelia642]

Your two part series was very interesting. My son is getting ready to start his senior year of college as a computer engineering major. He is home for the summer-working two part time jobs - $11-$15 an hour. This is what brought me to your videos. You spoke so many truths...illustrated by the example you shared about your mom and your own. Wants vs needs....debt can be a scary thing. I really enjoyed your videos.

[@mattschamel6550]

I made it to the end lol. Awesome experiment. You just made me realize how much money I spend that I don't need to.... WAY TOO MUCH lol. Honestly, I thought I was a penny pincher. I stand corrected. Great video!

[@sarahfallon5552]

I'm sure that you, like most landlords, require your tenants to make at least three times the rent amount. I know this video is 2 years old but was it possible to get a place for $418 a month? Because Even if we could afford to live off of minimum wage, who would rent to us?

[@tariqbashir7054]

You are on a road to huge successes! Stay blessed!

[@kevinparkerful]

You forgot to subtract taxes from your gross income. To be accurate u need to subtract expenses from NET income. Also minimum wage jobs don't have health insurance which is an additional cost you did not include.

[@ItsMandy]

The income used in the video is after tax. It's the amount someone would bring home after taxes, social security, and Medicare are taken out. I looked into healthcare and it was very complicated. I wasn't sure how to even begin to account for it. However, it did seem like I could get health insurance for very low cost and possibly even free due to being in a low income bracket. I know for a fact that children, pregnant women, and certain health conditions qualify for free health care in my state, but it also seems like I could get free to very low cost (like $40/month) coverage for being low income. Personally I just got health insurance a few months ago through my husbands job, but have not had it for the last several years and did not have it when I filmed this video.

[@natusfreedom472]

2k won’t even cover rent in Cali , but wherever your at enjoy it .. low cost of living

[@OtherDalfite]

Hey Mandy, if you're looking to save on phone plans, I highly, HIGHLY recommend buying a phone outright and then doing a BYOP type plan. I use straight talk and pay $50 a month for unlimited talk text and like 10gb of data which I've rarely exceeded. My phone is a pixel 3(love it) and it was about $300 open box when I got it. It's a little bit of a headache up front especially your first time through, you have to kind of learn the trick of getting an unlocked phone and setting it up. Make sure you check GSM/CDMA compatibility. But I do it now if I need a new phone and will never go back to Verizon or anywhere else.

[@ItsMandy]

Thank you for the recommendation!

[@jyy281]

You already had these things and then saying it’s doable which is completely bias. You’re not actually paying your house, food, car, gas, kids, etc just off 7.25 so this test was pretty pointless.

[@ItsMandy]

I’ve lived on less than minimum wage my entire adult life. My college years were really difficult because I was living on significantly less than minimum wage. I think you are saying because I’m counting my husband as my roommate in this situation, the experiment doesn’t count. But I’ve had a roommate most of my adult life as well. I’m just showing that you CAN live off a very low wage - but that doesn’t necessarily mean you can live by yourself in a fancy apartment. This experiment would have been the exact same if I split all of our bills in half and only lived off one wage - which is essentially what I was doing with my roommate before I was married.

[@jyy281]

@@ItsMandy you’re forgetting that most of the people in minimum wage are young teens and people who have kids. the issue isn’t for single people let alone having roommates to help. It’s that a lot of the people who have to take care of their kids literally can’t make it off 7.25 unless they have government assistance. So yes.. a roommate is a big help because it brings the rent down to half. you’re also forgetting about health, grooming and a lot of other expenses so I just don’t see how it’s the same. Maybe for a person on their own but the whole fight about raising the minimum wage is for single parents

[@ItsMandy]

@@jyy281 I never said minimum wage could support every person’s situation or an entire family. I’m not arguing that at all. Also I’ve yet to find a job actually paying $7.25. My sister makes $14/hr at McDonalds and they are constantly hiring. My point with this video is that you can live off a lot less than most people if you just try and cut out unnecessary spending. I know families who are struggling to pay their bills, but they have TV subscriptions, take weekend trips often, and eat out practically everyday. You can make $40 an hour but if you spend it unwisely, you will still struggle.

[@jyy281]

@@ItsMandy I can’t speak for all of Tennessee but the minimum wage is still 7.25. Amazon came in to Clarksville so a lot of jobs are raising their hourly pay up by like 3 dollars to compete. I’m 19 years old I make 25 an hour but I also know what 7.25 can get you here I lived here all my life. If you can tell me one person who doesn’t have a roommate and strictly lives off 7.25 and pays for their car payments, utilities, internet, phone, gas, food, health, hygiene etc off 7.25 then I’d shut up until then my point still stands it’s not a livable wage that’s literally impossible. most everybody isn’t blessed to have roommates and have family they can stay with like you

[@ItsMandy]

@@jyy281 That’s my point, no one is making $7.25 an hour. You are making $25 and you don’t have a college degree. My sister is in high school and makes $14. All the groceries stores in my area are paying between $15 and $17 for starting wages. Why would someone accept a job paying $7.25 when fast food restaurants are begging for workers, offering wages well above $7.25, and some are still paying sign-on bonuses. During college I worked two part time jobs but my pay would have been less than one full time minimum wage job. For three years I had a roommate and for one year I didn’t. The one year I didn’t, I still got all my bills paid and didn’t go into any debt. Having a roommate usually isn’t a blessing. It’s a sacrifice. But I went and found myself a roommate because I knew I would have trouble getting my bills paid otherwise. You can keep making excuses if you want, but you don’t have to be blessed to have a roommate, you just have to go find yourself one. My point was that if I can get by on $7.25, then other people should be able to get by on $14-$17 - which is a more realistic wage currently.

[@Dancing_Alone_wRentals]

Fun video. Thanks for putting the time into it. Oh, it wasn't KZbin that sent me here...I was searching around and you popped up under "Ohio Rental Property". I've no clue how it works...I just watch KZbins - I leave the details to KZbin.

[@ItsMandy]

Thank you for watching! That is weird, I don't think I have ever mentioned Ohio in a single video!

[@Dancing_Alone_wRentals]

@@ItsMandy Thou shalt not question KZbin. I'm glad they sent me here! (I always wondered who "They" was....Maybe it was KZbin? KZbin is the might "They"...hmm)

[@Busytech109]

Hey you two are doing great, if you keep up these budgeting practices, keep investing in passive income, you're money problems will be quite different than most people's money problems. Everyone has money problems, you're picking better problems to solve.

[@ItsMandy]

Thank you!

[@dnp1094]

What an interesting experiment you did. How did your husband react to it?

[@semi2467]

I personally think it would've been a better experience to do it for longer, and you said it in the video but it's key when talking about things such as this you realize the situations people are in. Not everyone is lucky enough to be in a two income household or to be in a situation were they don't have to take care off much besides themselves. You're saying that the limitations are put on some people of there own accord but that isn't the case because some are limited by the place they are put in by society, which is that they are just surviving and people who are better off don't really see that or see it to one-sidedly

[@semi2467]

Also I'm not coming at you about your opinion I understand that you were responding to a certain person when this experiment but like I said you could've did this longer do you could actually get a feel of what they live like.

[@saiyjin98]

Lookup the FIRE movement. There are many financial minimalists that live on less than minimum wage and save 80% of their income.

[@ItsMandy]

I have been living off less than Arkansas minimum wage for pretty much my entire adult life and did not have a two income household the majority of that time. The difference with this experiment was that we recently moved to TN where minimum wage was even lower and rent was higher than we have ever had to pay. Our expenses are always bare minimum though (not just for the single month). We are saving to have kids, to buy a house, and for retirement. We want to do those things as quickly as possible so we save everything we can and spend as little as possible.

[@jessicah3450]

@@ItsMandyYou make passive income as a landlord.

[@josephtnied]

"I think a lot of limitations we have in life, we put on ourselves" - what a brutal thing to say to people who are doing financially worse than you. Like you said in this video, you are LUCKY. I wouldn't even say "blessed," that term assumes some sort of cosmic karma has been granted to you for some justified reason. Capitalism in the United States is an absolute travesty and while one can survive, we ought to be criticizing the state things rather than putting the onus on the poor to struggle for years and years to make things somewhat better for themselves simply because they were unlucky enough to be poor.

[@mikelynn8977]

Joseph how is capitalism a travesty? show me a better system that has raised more people out of poverty. America is not a free market system and has not been since at least the beginning of the 20th century with the creation of the fed and the irs.

[@heyitz_rj]

Honestly, I feel like the question shouldn't be "is it possible to live off the federal minimum wage" instead I think asking "can you live off the federal minimum wage COMFORTABLY" and I would say no. Just because something is possible doesn't mean it's a good thing lol. Also, the only reason you have realized that the wages at your local stores have been going up IS BECAUSE THEY WERE FORCED TO GO UP BECAUSE THE WORKERS WERE SICK AND TIRED OF BEING ABUSED. Also, a retail store hiring people two dollars above the minimum wage is NOTHING. I'm all for saving money and budgeting but you're talking about people that are spending 90% of their money on rent and bills with the occasional grocery trip thrown in there. I just feel like nobody should have to live like that.

[@jenniferressmannwriter]

OMG...ants! They are everywhere. And will just show up for no reason. Tennessee sounds crazy inexpensive!

[@TheMarine1967]

Mandy, you are right about being hard, but not impossible. most people have a problem living within their means. I am doing well financially now. I still don't buy anything at full price and still drive the same car. Every time that I want to buy a big price item, I rather buy a rental property and let the renters pay for my new purchase. I learned this technic a while back and it works quite well. Thank you for your videos.

[@leoncharles1431]

hello Mandy can you do a morning routine video please? thanks

[@sanjiop494]

make more videos like these!!!

[@freese271]

I’m afraid to switch cellular carrier too.

[@ItsMandy]

It's silly, but I feel like I won't get any service or it will be super slow.