Youth Venture

Re: Living Large, Earning Small...life on a tight budget

I've just started my VISTA year, after working in the "real world" for a year, and I have to say that financially I feel like I'm back in college. It's tough having your checking account hit zero twice a month right before payday... holding your breath when you use your debit card because you're not sure you have enough on it for the purchase... hitting up mom and dad for some extra $$ even though I'm in my 20's........... tough and a lil embarassing.
BUT something that has helped me not overdraw (as much) these days is using online banking/account managing. It's the most up-to-date way to track your transactions... and fast enough that I can check it as I'm running out the door.

Re: Living Large, Earning Small...life on a tight budget

What can be helpful is growing some of your own food if you have any outdoor space. In my last year of university, I was very broke (shocker) and my girlfriend and I had dug up a small patch in the backyard of the house we shared with a bunch of roommates. The various small crops from that 8' x 10'ish plot made a huge difference when combined with some other super cheap veggies from Chinatown.

Biking and/or walking to work can save you a fair bit per month if it's feasible where you are and it's of course great for your health.

I would also say that instead of the PB&J and pasta, people try and make stuff like stews or even lasagna that can be made in bulk and eaten over the course of a few days. While you're working all those long, low paid hours you want to try and keep your energy up with decent food and it doesn't have to be expensive to eat well.

Re: Living Large, Earning Small...life on a tight budget

Good question Michael. I chose to become an Americorps Vista because I care about advocating and serving my country, but did not see myself joining the military. I see this as a way to serve before I really start pursuing my career. Do you ever see yourself working in the public service sector? In some countries, like Germany, citizens are required to serve in the armed forces or complete public service for 1-2 years, similar to what I am currently doing. What do you think about mandatory public service?

Re: Living Large, Earning Small...life on a tight budget

It is a shame that this blog ended when it was just getting very interesting. Although I have mixed views on whether or not public service should be mandatory, I do believe that the stringent stipend helps an Americorps member in self-sufficiency, and to teach him/her what the values of a budget really are: we are brought up in a culture that often times is frenzied by its need to use money as the means to a certain kind of happiness. Having grown up steadily middle class, I can recognize my desire for dining out, taking country drives, buying the latest in technology and toys, etc. What americorps almost forces you to do is to accept that you can get along very well without these things, and reconsider these aspects of your life. The effect of living in poverty can be a very alienating experience, but this alienation has its own rewards. We live in a very conscientious age, or at least during a time when people are realizing just how important it is to be aware. To live on the americorps diet, although it will feel like a college diet, is a very illuminating experience.

Re: Living Large, Earning Small...life on a tight budget

The VISTA stipend has forced me to identify those things in life that I value. I just can't have everything (or for that matter much of anything!) that I want- I have to choose and my choices affect my life. The stipend has led me to save and purchase items that I know will last, or I know I will like years down the road. It has significantly increased my natural tendency to reuse- almost every piece of "new" furniture, clothing, decor-even my cat-came from friends, family, thrift stores, or the street (and may I add that I think I have a pretty rockin' style going on). All this reuse has significantly enhanced my social life- friends and family know that I like to take things and enjoy passing on items they want "saved" but no longer need themselves.

Please tell me more about free/cheap entertainment!! Community dinners, matinee shows, home movies, board games, internet, crafting, hanging out...fill me in! Anyone with any great cheap entertainment practices?

PS- I also would love to see mandatory volunteerism/apprenticeship/service- so many people jump into college and spend six years deciding what they want, or get stuck in their regular routine- why not serve and see the world? Mandatory can always include delay/opt out with good reason options...

Re: Living Large, Earning Small...life on a tight budget

For me, the VISTA stipend made me pay attention to money more than I normally would have. To give you an idea of myself, I am very cheap by nature and can be easily entertained. Someone in the office just gave me putty and I now play with it all day! But, there was a difference between being that way by choice and being that way because I only have so much money. I never realized how much energy it takes to just sit down and think about those kinds of things before.
However, the experience of being a VISTA goes beyond your paycheck - I'm learning more now as a VISTA than I would learn in 10 years in a regular job, although this is the first "real" job I've had, I still really feel that way.

Entertainment Ideas - I volunteer at our non-profit movie theater, so I get one free movie ticket every time I volunteer for about 5 hours - and "volunteer" in this case means standing there and taking people's tickets.
I go to Borders and spend $2 on coffee and sit there and read great books that I now don't have to buy.

Eating healthy food is important to me - so I did invest in a coop membership and shop mainly on Member Appreciation Day when there is 10% off. But, I may have the option to sell my membership at the end of the VISTA year and get my money back... we'll see.