Posted on 05/12/2014 11:06:19 AM PDT by rickmichaels
Danielle Wagasky, a stay-at-home wife and mother of two, has managed to stretch $14,000 a year to cover her family’s needs for the past five years. That’s less than a third of the $50,000 median household income in the U.S.
And, perhaps a little surprisingly, she wouldn’t have it any other way.
Wagasky, 29, lives with her husband Jason, 32, and their two young children ages 9 and 7, in a three-bedroom family home in Henderson, Nevada. While Jason, a member of the U.S. Army, has been completing his undergraduate studies, the family’s only source of income is the $14,000 annual cost of living allowance he receives under the G.I. Bill.
Despite all odds, the family has barely any credit debt, no car payment, and no mortgage to speak of.
Wagasky has been sharing her journey to living meaningfully and frugally on her blog, Blissful and Domestic, since 2009.
She was kind enough to chat with BI and tell us how she makes it work.
(Excerpt) Read more at business.financialpost.com ...
If you live debt free, raise your own food, get the rest at places like Aldis, Sam’s Club, or Costco, you’d be surprised how good you can live on how little.
Total BS....GI Bill lasts for 3 years only. What are they doing the other 2 years. I wish they would at least be honest.
They probably get free Tricare, but not forever, and/or are on Medicaid. I wonder whether they get food stamps, free meals for the kids at school, heat aid assistance, 0bamaphones, etc. None of that is mentioned, but nothing says that they don’t receive any public assistance.
Ruh roh....don’t let the Dims get wind of this. This goes against everything they stand for. They’ll be forcing entitlements on or completely ridiculing this frugal, self-sufficient family.
From the article....
While Jason, a member of the U.S. Army, has been completing his undergraduate studies, the family’s only source of income is the $14,000 annual cost of living allowance he receives under the G.I. Bill.
She ought to write a “how-to” book on this...
Good stuff.
Many have negative wealth and large incomes.
I seem to recall some lady from rural Maine who was publishing a newsletter on how well you could live on an income like that if you pinched every penny, cooked from scratch, and were creative about fixing things.
Some people define “income” as cash money coming in. None of the public assistance benefits would necessarily be classified as “income”.
It could be, like me in the early 70s, completing my degree in three years with credits I had already earned before and while on active duty. Not everyone goes to college with zero credits.
Duh. Hello. White privilege obviously.
I’m single, and I could never live on that. Wish I could (then again, I live in the D.C. area, and it’s almost impossible to live here on ANY salary!).
Your situation is a matter of residence. I can see that it could be done depending on where they live, how much they pay for housing, etc. Place of residence has a huge bearing on this. My wife and I easily lived on less percentage-wise in the mid 70s when I went back to school. We weren’t starving but it was tight for most of that time.
It’s 48 months...which with breaks and everything can be drawn out to 5 years. Also IIRC with the new Post 9/11 bill if yours expire in the middle of a graduating semester they will still pay you for that semester.
We lived for three yars on $10,000 while starting a business. We lived in the country, produced most of our own food and were debt free. We had 7 kids at the time.
TRICARE is for active duty and retired military and is not free.
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