How I Survived With $7500/year
The Reason for This Blog Entry
There were several reasons why I wanted to post this. Penelope Trunk’s entry on how to survive with an entry-level salary gave me a reason to write this up. I agreed with most of her points, and it’s a solid read. That entry inspired me to write about my experiences of surviving with a very low salary after college.
Also The Tao Of Money’s recent entry about finance bloggers gave me another reason to write about this. That post talked about how some financial bloggers were already rich and never had to dig themselves out of a hole. Since I occasionally wrote about financial stuff in this blog, I felt it should be good to write about my financial journey.
Finally, I can probably win a Wii from Get Rich Slowly by writing this entry. 
My Background
I graduated in 2001 with a computer science degree. The tech bubble busted at around that time. Most companies usually looked at exceptional GPA for entry-level positions. My GPA was average so I had a hard time finding a job. Not only that, news and blogs reported companies failing, massive layoffs, programming jobs being outsourced, and how experienced programmers took entry level jobs out of desperation. So competition was tough.
At that time I was highly insecure, shy, negative, not confident, and pessimistic. I was unemployed and had very little money. But at the same time, I was also cocky and had the typical middle-class, college educated, punk kid attitude thinking that I knew everything and deserved everything.
Well I needed to live, and I didn’t move back with my parents because I couldn’t stand their nagging. So I decided live out on my own and survive as best as I could. It was a depressing time for me. I had no job, my girlfriend and I broke up, I felt like the biggest loser, and I was in an enormous rut.
How Did I Live on $7500/year?
- I lived with roommates. I lived in a 2 bedroom 1 bathroom apartment with 3 other roommates. It was a small apartment too. I had a helluva time trying to share a bathroom with 3 other people.
- I rarely went out to eat and got cheap stuff to cook. Ramen, rice, cheap meats, farmer’s market, generic brands, etc. Sometimes I just went hungry for the day. But I had great friends who occasionally bought me food. Any food that was left over, I took home to eat. One day, I went to a BBQ at my friend’s place. I took all her leftover hotdog and buns. I had hotdogs for lunch and dinner for a whole week.
- I got jobs—any jobs I can find. During my unemployment times I had these jobs: Short order cook, package loader, waiter, busboy, computer technician, movie and TV extra, math and English tutor, and computer programmer (this job paid very little).
- I avoided debt at all costs. I was extremely lucky that I didn’t have student loans. But even though I tried avoiding debt, I incurred about $5000 in credit card debt (don’t ask).
- I researched about saving and investing. I was raised spoiled and didn’t know anything about the value of money. So I had to learn about investing and saving.
- I spent all my free time improving my soft-skills. I had nothing else to do because I didn’t have a TV to watch. I couldn’t play video games because they were expensive to buy. So I went out and made a bunch of friends. This helped me a lot. Eventually, meeting people landed me with my first decent job.
- I explored many career options. Even though I was an introvert, I seriously considered a sales job. During desperate times, you learn to do things you’re not comfortable with.
It Wasn’t That Bad Though
Looking back, my situation was pretty bad. But I’m sure other people had it worse than me. I know I had it better than some people because I was actually blessed with several things:
- My parents lived close by so I ate with them once a week.
- I made $7500/year instead of $0/year.
- I had 0 student loans.
- My parents took care of my biggest expense at that time—my car insurance.
- I also met some people that helped me through this by getting me job opportunities.
- I was healthy enough that I didn’t have to go to the doctor. Most of my sicknesses were the cold and flu variety. I was sick a lot, but they weren’t life threatening.
What I Learned Out of All This
- Keep learning. I slacked off in school, and I needed to make up for lost time. Like I wrote, I improved my soft skills and my hard skills. My skill-sets were piss-poor so I had to improve it or I would never find a job. Eventually, improving my skills helped me to get a real job.
- Simplicity and Frugality is king. I learned how to simplify and live a frugal life. I realized that having gadgets, name-brand flashy junk, big cars and houses, etc. were useless. When I couldn’t afford some luxuries, I realized that I didn’t miss them at all.
- Stop keeping up with the Joneses. You shouldn’t compare yourself with other people. Just set your plan and focus on implementing your plan. Don’t worry about how other people are doing compared to you. Don’t get depressed if people are doing better than you. Likewise, don’t get proud if you see people doing worse than you.
- Humility. I realized I’m not low enough to do low-level jobs if I need to. I learned to pay my dues and work my way up.
- Man up. People are selfish creatures and we shouldn’t depend on other people to help us. Sometimes we have to dig out using our own will and power.
- Be more thankful. Sure I lived a miserable life. But I had food to eat, I had a roof over my head, I had clothes to wear, I had some money, I met and befriended great people, and I didn’t die. While I didn’t enjoy going through life like that, I’m thankful I learned a lot from it. So remember that cheesy cliche—always look at the bright side of life.
- I looked at several job options. There were 2 different jobs I took. The first type of jobs were the jobs to strategically to improve my chances of getting a better job. For example, I took a job at a startup so I can get experience in programming1. They paid horrible, but at least I got the experience. The other kind of job I took was just any job to make extra money.
- I moved out of my parents. I wasn’t 100% independent from them, but going out on my own helped me for the long-term. Being independent from my parents really taught me a lot on how I should make and save money.
fn1. These are the types of jobs you see on Craigslist. You know, the company that wants you to do everything but get paid only with the non-existent equity.
Stumble it!
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Comments
Good story. I used to have a very well paying job in the computer games industry. A few years ago I got tired of it and went freelance. Because I got increasingly fed up working for and with other people I started to only accepted few work assignments. So I had to scale down and simplify. I’m 100% self sufficient and now live on about $10.000/year. Yet for me it’s a much better life. I have more freedom and feel better about myself. Frugality is a good thing.
I am going to have my children read this. It is a good eye opener as to what life is really about. Good luck with the Wii.
Living in a Rocky Mountain ski town for the past 10 years … I would have to agree with the statement “Simplicity and Frugality is king”. Good article!
Today I had a conversation with a friend that has a son of your age. He/we were lamenting how selfish, shallow and entitled your generation has become. You seem to have attained some wisdom in your short time on this planet. Keep up the good work.
I’m living it now.
It’s tough, especially when your friends want to go out to eat and you really can’t afford to buy anything more than a glass of water (which is free). You never really miss cable TV. And I do have student loans, but you can put them on forbearance and deferment for a while too, to buy you time. Fortunately my car is paid off (bought it cash, from a private owner), and I have minimal coverage on insurance to keep the premium as low as possible.
Right now I’m working a job that sucks and pays horrible, but theoretically, it’ll help me get up to a much better paying job later.
Still, it sucks being poor long-term.
David
dude, you didnt live on 7500 a year, you ran up 5000 worth of debt on your credit card.
1) What about that 5,000 you put on a credit card
2) you were still sponging off your parents.
thank you for telling us this. it’s so rewarding to have a true story of what someone with a very good college degree went through post-grad, and how they got through it! it’s one of those “i’m not the only one!” moments and it means a lot.
Great story!