Times are tough out there, y’all. Between gas, groceries, raising kids, and the fear that the housing market is about to go bust again, I don’t know anyone who isn’t at least slightly worried about money.
How little could you survive on if you absolutely had to, though?
Well, you might think $5 a week is completely ridiculous, but these 18 people have some (mostly tongue-in-cheek) ways they think they could make it happen.
18. It’s as good a plan as any.
That’s 5 dollars I’m putting on cheap scratch tickets ig 🤷🏻♂️
17. Bonus?
Commit a crime and go to prison.
And you’ll have five bucks on your commissary.
16. It’s literally impossible.
No one can.
A long time ago, when things were not as expensive as they are now, I took a cut in hours at my job. I sat down and figured it out to the penny, and I had an extra $10/ week for entertainment. That meant rent, food, utilities took up every other penny of my paycheck, and I had $10 to go to a movie or whatever,
And I scoured my city. I found out which days the museums were free, I started using the library, I met friends for coffee instead of dinner out and I walked just about everywhere I wanted to go.
And it wasn’t easy, but I managed, and even managed to spend very little some weeks so I could splurge the next week, but it was not easy at all.
I really don’t see how anyone could survive on $5/week.
15. That’s something, anyway.
I’d probably use it seconds in to purchase a drink to think on how I’ll survive and then curl up and cry.
14. You might have to move.
5 USD goes much farther in some other countries.
Staying in the US?
You cannot afford to sleep anywhere but the streets or a shelter. You cannot buy food from a grocery store and DEFINITELY not from a restaurant. Get acquainted with charities, food pantry, soup kitchens.
The more I think about this the dumber a question it is. $5 a week is like $260/year. Nobody can live on that unless you’re off the grid, make your own shelter, hunt/gather your food, and live in a climate that is consistent all year round.
13. Get as much for free as possible.
Honestly, go to soup kitchens in your area and look for food pantries, those are there for people going through rough times.
12. No hope here.
Survive? You can’t. You would be homeless, car-less, jobless. Spending $5 daily on food-you wouldn’t last long.
EDIT: Yes, I realize OP said weekly. I was saying even $5 daily would be close to impossible. $5 weekly comes out to $0.71 daily.
11. There’s the food solved.
With 5 dollars in Argentina we can bought two packs of pasta ($1), 2 boxes of tomato sauce ($1), soya vegan meat 2 pounds ($1,3), eggs X6 ($0,65), 1 pound of potato ($0,50), and some fruit like bananas or apples 1 pound ($0,5)= $5… I think I would survive with this, eating some pasta with soya in lunch and potato with eggs at dinner per day
10. Don’t expect excitement.
Just food in Mexico would be easy with $5 usd (about $100 mxn).
You can buy enough eggs and potatoes to last a week.
Breakfast/lunch: huevo con papas
Lunch/dinner: papas con huevo
Dinner/supper: papas a huevo
I mean, it would be boring, but definitely you can pull this off. Also, i guess you can change some potatoes for tomatoes or other vegetables so it’s less boring, also add a half kilo of tortillas in there.
9. Embracing nature.
Wood is literally growing on trees, and starting a fire without matches/lighter/flint+steel is a skill a lot of people into wilderness backpacking have. Get yourself metal trash can lid or dumpster dive a pot/pan and you’re good.
Shelter, you can steal a tarp pretty easy from almost any construction site. It’s not comfortable but you won’t get rained on at least.
For the winter though, your best option is “don’t be where it gets cold”. Boston homeless in January is a hell of a lot worse than Atlanta homeless.
8. Cold hard facts.
The minimum wage for survival is approximately $530 a year. $5 a week is only half that. In order to survive, you would need to supplement that money with something else.
7. Without YouTube??
Buy flint, go live in the woods. Return to monke.
6. If survival is all you need…
Easy, with $5 dollars I would buy a hammer. Doesn’t have to be a good hammer. I would walk into a store and attempt to rob it. When the police came i would surrender peacefully. From there I would proceed to jail to collect my free meals, bed and electricity.
Would it be fun? No. But I would survive.
5. Rice for days.
While rice is cheap, where can you find a bag for $5, aside from something like Uncle Ben’s or microwave bagged rice as those aren’t going to last more than 1 or 2 meals.
The big bags that will last you months, even if you eat it every day, are still $30+.
4. I can’t decide which is the best part.
I’d pull myself up by my bootstraps and invest those 5 dollars into a Wendy’s spicy chicken sandwich and then jump off a bridge.
3. Seems to be the prevailing advice of the day.
I would make coffee at home and stop eating avocado toast.
2. If you can find a way to keep it cool.
Buy a case of water sell them for a buck a piece and repeat
1. It’s logical, if not legal.
Buy a knife with the $5 and start robbing people.
Definitely don’t try these at home. I’m just saying.
What ideas would you add to the list? Let us know in the comments!
