How To Live On $2,000 Per Month

There are the people who only have $2,000 a month, or there are those who want to live on less by living on $2,000 a month and saving the rest.

I’ve been on both ends of the spectrum, so I know what it’s like.

Let’s start by talking about net income. Your net income is what’s used to make your budget. Net income is calculated by subtracting total expenses from total income.

For our purposes, that means making ends meet and striving for a little extra.

This article is about using your net income carefully to allow for extra at the end of the month.

It is possible to live on this income, and even thrive on just $2,000 a month!

I will show you a breakdown of what our budget looked like, how we did it, and how you can too!

The Budget

Here is a breakdown of what our budget looked like when we were spending just $2,000 a month.

• Mortgage: $750 (our home cost $85,000)
• Food: $350
• Cell Phone: $39
• Car Insurance: $100
• Gas: $100
• Utilities: $100
• Health Insurance: $450
• Entertainment: $20
• Internet: $30
• Netflix: $11
• Clothes: $50

Total: $2000

How We Did It

As you can see, our budget is straightforward and even minimalist.

Car payments are absent from there, and if you only have $2,000 to spend, you don’t have the money to be paying off a car. We both do have cars, both of which are used and 10+ years old! The truth is that they work just fine and meet our needs to travel around town with our kids and to and from work.

We only ate out when we had leftover money from our grocery budget. However, we do have a clothing budget that we can use to replace old and worn out clothes or shoes, especially for growing children.

These categories cover our basic needs, and we still were able to go out with our friends once a month and not feel deprived!

If you have only $2,000 to spend, and you don’t want to spend every dime you make, you can definitely live on less!

Find Cheap Housing

This will likely mean less square footage, and may even involve renting instead of buying.

While this might not be in the perfect location, it can allow you to save money on housing costs. In our situation, we bought a small house that was close to my job. (I was the main breadwinner until James finished his Management degree).

I did miss apartment life where we had access to a pool, gym, and were able to enjoy spending less time cleaning and tidying up our home (and yard!).

But we were starting our family. So we needed more bedrooms (and bathrooms) in order to have room for a growing family.

Cut Your Grocery Budget

Your food budget is one of the most flexible categories in your budget.

Between shopping sales, coupons, and stockpiling, you can bring your grocery budget down drastically. As a result, that increases your available net income.

While we were living on $2,000 a month, we completely cut out eating out as it was an expense we could not afford, unless we spent less on groceries.

One of the fastest ways to save money on groceries is to learn how to maximize your money with a strategy to compare food prices.

Reduce Your Cell Phone Expenses

There are so many different things you can do to cut your cell phone bill drastically.

Consider switching providers, or even consider removing the data package from your phone plan.

Most places have wifi these days, and when you’re out, do you need to be on your phone (eating up data) anyway?

Ever heard of MintSIM? I’ve heard great reviews about it and it allows you to have unlimited talk & text plus data for $38 per month at the MOST. You might want to check it out to reduce your cell phone bill without losing any perks.

Cut Your Fuel Costs

One of the last expenses that is easy to control is your fuel costs.

There are many ways to save on it too. Using discount gift cards and joining gas reward programs are only two of seven tips I have here on how to save on gas.

We chose our home based on how close it was to my job to further save on any commute time (or gas expense).

On the weekends, we try to choose activities that are close to home to make our fill-ups last as long as possible.

YOUR TURN: What steps are you planning to take to reduce your expenses so you can live on less? Let me know in the comments below!

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