How I thrived on a Basic Income of $11,000 last year in Montreal

How I thrived

on a Basic Income of $11,000 last year in Montreal

From January 1st to December 31st, I recorded all of my spending through 2014 with a wonderfully intuitive app called YNAB (You Need A Budget) so that I could share my economical alternative lifestyle. This kind of living is definitely not for everyone, but with my advice, you could save a few hundred or thousand dollars by the end of next year.
I am an avid supporter of Universal Basic Income—an income given to every adult citizen in the country—so that they may each have the basic requirements necessary (food and shelter) to live proper lives with dignity. This program has been called ‘a natural extension of medicare’ by Dr. Anna Reid, MD, Past President of the Canadian Medical Association(2013–2014) and a way to simplify a complicated (and sometimes degrading) system of social assistance and financial aid programs. I highly recommend this video for a quick outline of its benefits and the Basic Income subreddit for more information about UBI than you can shake a stick at.

Rent (51%)

My rent contributed to 51% of my cost of living or $5500 at an average of $550/month for 10 months. I sublet my room for June and July (see: Vacation).
There are smaller rooms available at a lower rental cost. I could pay as low as $325 per month in my own home at a cost of a mere $3900 annually.
Explore different areas of the city (east and/or north especially), and be aware of social assistance programs (welfare & food banks). There are a lot of opportunities. Be creative! Also, check out Frugal Montreal and don’t be shy to ask questions.

Community

I owe a significant portion of my financial savings to my community. I live in an extraordinary environment with 13 roommates. We live in a prime location in the Plateau which is ideal for proximity but less so for cost savings. A portion of our rent payment goes into the collective pot where we purchase common items to share. For instance, our electricity, internet, telephone, and a basic level of food is provided in our cost of rent.

Food (19%)

Food has contributed to 19% of my cost of living or $2067.60 at an average of $172.30 per month. Eating out has cost $1399.25 whereas groceries have only cost $668.35. Coffee has also played a significant role in my eating habits, at least $212.56 worth (most likely 20%, and explained in the vices category) .






All of the food seen in this photograph was obtained through dumpster diving.
The low cost of personal groceries is directly related to cost of our group purchased groceries and the extensive amount of dumpster diving in which our home participates. As far as group purchasing, these typically include a variety of cooking oils, spices, pasta, rice, beans, coffee, teas, as well as some low cost bulk fruit and vegetables.

read on: https://medium.com/basic-income/how-i-thrived-on-a-basic-income-of-less-than-11-000-last-year-in-montreal-9c6e925a7a25




Love Always
mudra

What a great way to live. Much less stress. Thank you for posting this article mudra. 

How wonderful, mudra, to find this story with experiences of clever investigating and detection of possibilities,
creative living and making ends meet with communal co-operation and fun too. Love it!

This is my experience and unfolding story, living on little money, without a regular job for an income.
I'm very happy, not being awake at night, worrying about where and how I could invest my money

Since September 2013 I've lived and still live, from 700 Euro a month, a value of 800 US Dollar.
That's 9600 US Dollar a year.

My bills show a total of costs a 703,- euro

How to make the best of a nettly situation?



https://youtu.be/ChdCrG0Vvyo

Fortunately I'm used to a sober food-choice on my plate and a pure and simple cooking style, with organic quality.
I don't buy bottles and pots with sauces and extras, nor do I consume dairy products, except some milk in my coffee.

These are the little miracles happening in my life, since I began to practice sustainable living, by new initiatives,
deciding I'm living in abundance and only need to wake up... stumbling on it.... sort of.

- A Turkish bakery offers me a freshly baked organic bread twice a week, a supportive friendly gesture.

- A friend of mine brings vegetables at my door, from an Iranian shop where he helps out as volunteer and
is showered with food by the owners, of which some is a tiny bit over the date.

- I've begun to search for edible food in nature, greens, like nettles, chickweed, groundalder and dandelion leaves.
A cheap and abundantly present omega 3 fatty acid is available in the tops of nettles that have grown in seed.
The tubby above offers more, on the use of nettle for consumption and more qualities of it.

- I've found a website with locations of fruit- and nut-trees and bushes with brambles, in parks and fruit-orchards,
left open and harvestable for the public, in Holland. I know of containers at large supermarkets, filled with ready
made meals over the date, at the end of the day. Only when it's really necessary, I will choose to "harvest" those,
but I'm not happy with the sugar, fats and artificial ingredients added to them.

- A girlfriend invites me for dinner on a regular basis and gives me nice chocolate bars now and than.

- Most shopping for food I do at farms around my city, in stable-shops with prices much better than in city-shops.

- A friend of mine offered me last week a piece of land on a communal garden project, for free, to grow vegetables.

The manager/owner of this garden rules his project for more than 30 years now and he creates a seedbank, with original
species of vegetables and herbs, This guy is extremely knowledgable about edible food in the wild and he showed me cattails,
the fresh bright colored ones. "Edible and full of protein" he explained. Also, those little blue flowers formed like a bunch of grapes,
called "Blauwe druifjes" in Dutch and in Latin "Muscari botryoides", are edible. "For the Roman soldiers, living in their fortresses,
this flower was a delicatesse, eaten like a salad" he told me. He's also providing us with seeds, special ones! As long as we give
him a couple of plants in seed in return, end of season. It's a magical journey, to find reality mirroring my statement that I live in abundance.

Awesome BB. That 's fantastic  
Congratulations 
You are showing another way ... YOUR WAY

Love from me
mudra