People are already doing these things, and more, all the time, and they DO increase wages; the problem is that the increase still isn't anywhere near enough. These "pull yourself up by the bootstraps" strategies used to be effective, but the reality is that income growth continues to be greatly outpaced by expenses. Far too many are priced out of the American Dream irrespective of their work ethic, skills, or experience. This is driven by a number of factors, but the pathetically low minimum wage - which doesn't even approach being able to guarantee a livable wage, nor been adjusted in over 15 years - is one of the variables that the government can directly control at a federal level. An adjustment against the basic cost of living today and mechanism for regular increases proportional to inflation would go a long way towards keeping people above the poverty line. Simply put, a rising tide lifts all ships.