Teach me to live super cheap

In My Humble Opinion
1

I have a 1 track mind, damn. But heres another post about money and frugality.

What secrets have you uncovered when it comes to being uber-frugal? im not talking about ‘clip 25 cent coupons on a $4 box of cereal’, im talking about living on 600 a month type of thing.

I know, from watching my dad and from reading psychology books that money doesn’t buy happiness (unless you are too poor to afford the basics or budget it badly, then it buys unhappiness) but it does buy freedom and good budgeting can buy peace of mind. if a person can live on a low wage, then they are free to pursue careers and educations that truly interest them because they wont be stuck in bad jobs due to a mortgage and an SUV. Also, living on a low wage allows you to feel more insulated against the ravages of unemployment, outsourcing, etc. Plus one of my goals in life was to partially retire in my 40s, to work 20 hours a week from then on and hope i had enough saved up to let me do that. So i want to keep cutting my bills lower & lower. Right now they are at about 750 a month, excluding the guaranteed expenses (medical, auto repair, purchases over $20, etc) which add another $100-150 on top of that. Keep in mind im a college student though, but im not really materialistic. ‘stuff’ doesnt matter to me nearly as much as freedom & peace of mind. maybe that’ll change in 10 years, but right now that is how i feel.

I think my biggest expense i need work on is food right now. i spend about 160/month on it. I am a pretty active person, and i am muscular (so i need a good deal of calories, 4000 a day or so) and i am a finicky eater. Sucks. I always look on in amazement when other college students talk about how they can live off $40/month for food by just eating ramen noodles & spaghetti 3 meals a day. i couldn’t stand it. im trying to increase my bread & spaghetti intake to cut food costs down, but i doubt i will get much lower than 120/month for food.

ANother luxury i feel i need is broadband & cable tv. these are my only sources of entertainment (aside from cheap alcohol). those come to 45/month assuming i have 1 roommate.

Here is a sample budget

Rent 250
Utilities 100
-cable tv/internet 45
-phone 15
-electric 40
Car Insurance 30
Gym 31
living expenses 300

  • gas 80
  • food 150
  • miscellaneous 70
    Cash miscellaneous 50

What all can i reasonably cut? Cash miscellaneous means fast food, alcohol, and cleaning supplies from the dollar store.

i live in a college town, my rent now is 245/month. However i saw an ad in roommates.com for a $150/month bedroom in a townhouse. i dont know what the catch(es) are to that but if it were true that would cut living expenses down to 655/month, probably lower as utilities split 4 ways are cheaper than 2 way splits.

i could stop going to the gym and save 31, or get some home exercise equiptment. and i could get rid of my truck and get a car with good gas mileage, those 2 things would save me 71/month combined. So if i combined those with lower rent (if i can find lower rent, like the 150/month and assuming lower utiliites) my Cost of living would go down to 580 a month or so. At that cost i would still have broadband, my own bedroom, cable tv, an auto, and edible food. All of which i feel are luxuries i really cannot do without and still feel comfortable. However id have to get a new car someday and thats $120/month in loan payments. Plus id like $2500/deductible health insurance someday, that is another $50/month.

2

Do you really need the vehicle? Bike to work and lose the insurance, gas, maintenance, and eventual replacement costs. And as a bonus, you can skip the gym.

3

Make sure your “food” item isn’t really just “grocery store” items. In other words, every single thing you buy under your “food” budget, you put in your mouth. No paper towels, laundry soap, etc. … you may need those things, but don’t call them “food,” call them “supplies” and see how far you can cut that item down.

I noticed clothes aren’t in your budget. I don’t care much about clothes either, but here’s a tip – go to Goodwill or whatever, and see what you can see. You might be surprised, and buying some really nice clothes for just a couple bucks can give you a nice little lift.

I assume you’re cutting your own hair? Get clippers if you don’t already have a buzz cut, or if somebody doesn’t cut it for you for free.

You really don’t need cable, although you may need internet, and it sounds like you have a good deal.

Back to your food budget … if that’s the thing you need to cut most, you need to eat cheaper. Do you buy many prepared products? You need to start buying things like rice and beans in bulk, and preparing them yourself, if you’re in the habit of buying cans and boxes of things. It is truly amazing how cheaply you can eat, if you’re willing to cook more. Meat, of course, will be a luxury, no matter how active and muscular you are; most of your protein should be coming from plant sources.

You might even call a food bank and check if your income qualifies you to visit their store. They may not even care. There’s no shame in it and they’ve actually got a lot of very good stuff.

4

Oh, and a roommate cable ploy I’ve practiced many a time: express uninterest in cable, and if your roommate really wants/needs it, offer to chip in a nominal amount and have roommate pay the bulk. Then do your internetting at the library.

5

Do you have a good-sized fridge? I buy bulk at Costco, but any warehouse store will do. I buy flats of chicken breasts, steaks, roasts, whatever, then bag them in single portions and stick them in the freezer.

A huge expense is prepackaged foods. But buying and eating healthy can be expensive. Cheap food is usually bad for you!

At Costco, I can get an 11 pound bag of Basmati rice for less than $8, a big bag of broccoli for about $6, a case of oranges for $7, etc. It can go a long way, but it takes planning.

6

Depending on where someone’s located, that sometimes isn’t an option. If you can ride a bike, and live in a place that you’re in semi-reasonable biking distance of places you need to get, or have public transportation access, it’s a possiblity though, definitely.

7

It sounds like you’re pretty close to the bare minimum. But depending on how much free time you have, you might be able to find a room or apartment that you could get rent-free in exchange for doing basic maintenance: shoveling snow off the walk, cutting the grass, taking the trash out, etc. It would be important to clearly specify and limit the duties, or at least the amount of time you would be expected to devote to them. You don’t want to be a servant. But if you could find a room with somebody who just needs some help with the heavy lifting it might benefit both of you.

8

Cut the rent, fast food, alcohol, and gym. If possible, lose the car and related expenses, too.

9

If you’re a college student, shouldn’t you have free access to the college gym facilities? Why spend $31 a month on another membership?

10

You can do without cable and gym- use the public library and take up jogging.

Other than that, though, it’s just mastering the Threefold Path of Frugality:

  1. Use less of it.
  2. Make it last longer.
  3. Do without it.

This works well for lots of different expenses. Go around your life asking yourself how you can do one, two, or all of those things.

11

Why DON’T you move within biking, walking distance of college? Compare it to what you save on car insurance/petrol etc, it’ll probably be worth it. Ditch the cable, get yourself a library card instead!

12

And since you’re getting a library card, look for books by Amy Daczyczyn - she puts the Tightwad Gazette together and has a couple big compilation volumes. Some of her ideas are over-the-top cheap, but in and among them are some really good tips for living thriftily.

(By “over-the-top cheap” I mean stuff like “save water by not bathing as frequently”… if you’re THAT cheap, it starts to affect the quality of life, IMHO.)

13

Since you’re a renter, ask the landlord if you can start a garden. If you get permission, make it as big as possible. I don’t know where you live, but contact your county extension office and they’ll tell you what grows in your area and best times to plant and whatnot.

If you’re really frugal and have a strong stomach, grow zucchini.

14

You don’t need cable or super fast internet. I found that most shows I watch come on network TV. $20 for a good antenna and you should be able to get most network channels in fairly clear. Program your VCR to tape shows while you’re out.

Find a pizza buddy. That way you have some one to split the cost with you when you get a craving.

Find out what types of student specials area businesses have.

Take your lunch to school.

Check out the school gym. You pay for it with your tuition, no sense in paying for another gym on top of it.

15

You mentioned health insurance in the future, I would put that as a necessity over things like alcohol and cable. It sounds good to save that money every month, but one illness or accident, even a trip to the emergency room or something like appendicitis is going to set you way, way back. A more serious injury could put you in debt for years. (If you are on your parents’ insurance now since you are still in school or something and are just mentioning it as a future expense, forget I said anything.)

Others have already mentioned the only other things I can think of. I lived on $300 / month in college for a while with rent being $175, but I wouldn’t recommend it. I ended up sponging off my roommate quite a bit for food (I am repaying the favor, though!) After a while it might be easier to increase your income than to cut your expenses. Even working as a tutor or a few extra hours a week can make a bigger difference than cutting an expense. Just a thought (and I know you don’t want to go through college without any spending money or fun, ever!)

16

While I applaud your efforts to cut your expenses down so severely, I would like to caution you not to be so drastic as to make yourself feel deprived. $750 per month for living expenses is really cheap, especially since you’ve already got a few luxuries in there. Don’t concentrate so much on tomorrow that you aren’t able to enjoy today.

17

Thanks. now that ive reread this post i realize i misled people about my goal due to miscommunication. I know i can live on $400 a month or so if i need to. however i want to live cheaply and still live a life that prevents me from feeling excessively deprived. if i needed to i could get rid of the car, eat spaghetti and bread 24/7, not get cable or internet and only spend $400/month but id rather have all these things and spend $650 a month. i guess what im looking for more than anything is how can i live a life im comfortable with as cheaply as possible.

I guess my ‘needed’ luxuries include an auto, cable tv, broadband, edible food (ie, not ramen noodles & spaghetti 21 meals a week. i dont mind bread & spaghetti, just not too much of it), my own room and living in a moderate sized town (30k or more people). The reason i dont want to live in a small town is that even though the rent is a little lower (my half would be 80/month less there) wages are also about 1.50/hr less. Plus i like larger towns more.

So what im looking for is how i can live a life im comfortable with as cheaply as possible. several plans are.

  1. trade in my truck for a used corolla. a 99 corolla with 70k or less miles is about 5500 if you shop around. if i did that my gas bills would be cut in half, saving me $40/month. Plus my american truck has 88k miles, so its approaching that point where it will start needing repair work, a corolla with 70k miles could go 50k more miles without any problems.

  2. get 2-3 roommates instead of 1, that would cut my cable bills and internet bills down to 30/month instead of 45, and cut my rent down $50 or more. Plus, if i had several roommates then maybe we could buy edible food in bulk, maybe saving me $30/month in food. And other utilities would go down too and maybe some misc. expenses and maybe even gym membership if we purchased together.

  3. find a cheaper apartment. like i said, i saw an ad for a $150 apt, which is dirt cheap but there may be catches to that.

My goal is a life im comfortable with for 400-600/month. Thats the basic living expenses though, doesnt include things like auto repair, large purchases, medical, school, etc. That 400-600 is just for food, transportation, housing, utilties, and most misc. expenses.

And i realize i should get medical insurance, i started filling out forms for a 2500 deductible highly rated plan a week ago. they say it will cost $40/month but that sounds too good, they’ll probalby find a way to jack up the prices.

I’ve read Amy Daczyczyn, her stuff doesnt really help me though. alot of it is things like ‘how to save $20 a year doing something out of the way’.

18

Two words. Dry beans. This requires a bit of work but it is so worth it. High protien and oh so cheap. These are hard to sex up but it can be done. Dried peppers are also cheap. Add rice or greens: turnip, kale, mustard, etc…not a bad meal. A ham hock or chicken thigh for variety. This is really bottom end living but it is doable. My 2 cents.

19

I’ll agree with the beans suggestion. In my last semester as an undergrad, I lived on a food budget of seven dollars a week. It was 1987, so I’d probably have to double it now. Every Sunday, I cooked up an enormous pot of beans and another of rice, then all week, I ate reheated leftovers, twice a day (no time for lunch). No snacks. No drinks, ever, except tap water. Varying the seasonings makes it a little more interesting, but I’ll admit that I got real tired of it. I also felt very lean and healthy. One dollar a day, and I think it’s a lot healthier than ramen noodles (what isn’t?) or spagetti (not unhealthy, but probably not enough protein to build or maintain your musculature).

That was only for four or five months, and I doubt that most people would consider it a sustainable lifestyle. But let me introduce you to my friend Teddy, who makes Thoreau look self-indulgent and wasteful.

I worked with Teddy for a few years here in Korea. He’s now back in the US, retired, and I understand he’s bought an old wreck of a vehicle. For the previous 25 years, though, he lived in various foreign countries, teaching English, and when he moved on, he carried everything he owned on his back. He owned a notebook computer, used only for writing–he did his internet stuff at work or at the library. Two pair of shoes. Two pair of pants, four shirts. (I don’t know about socks and underwear.) He washed his clothes in a sink, and dried them on a line in his room. One jacket, one coat, one sleeping bag. He had a couple of harmonicas, and while he was here in Korea, he bought an old guitar, which he gave to me upon leaving.

He wore the same clothes for all activities, and those activities included English teaching, playing music, mountain climbing, martial arts (black belts in taekwondo and hapkido), and working out. No gym for Teddy–he worked out by running stairs, climbing ropes and poles and whatever else he could find, and kicking and punching the air. He never used elevators or escalators, even when he lived on the tenth floor.

He cut his own hair with a pair of scissors, though it sometimes looked like he’d cut it with a knife and a fork. Obviously, he was no slave to fashion, but he always looked presentable. He was unfailingly courteous, helpful and hard-working, so people forgave his somewhat unstylish appearance.

His diet, as far as I know, was canned mackerel, bread, and peanut butter. I never saw him in a restaurant, even when someone else was paying. Now, at 56 years old, he’s still lean and muscular, and he still does stuff like handstand push-ups. I don’t know of anything he does for pure entertainment–if he’s not working out or hiking, he’s writing. He retired at about 54, I think, though he never really earned much money. He saved almost everything he earned, and with his lifestyle habits, he has enough.

I’m not saying it would work for everyone. As much as I admire his independence and resourcefulness, his way would not work for me. For one thing, I’m not crazy about canned mackerel. But beans and rice–that’s good stuff.

20

I’ve been working on cutting expenses lately myself.

Some little things you can do that will be painless:

Take a look at your phone bill, I discovered I was paying $5.00 per month for “inside line insurance” So if something ever went wrong with my phone line inside the house, they wouldn’t charge me a $60 an hour fee to fix it. I’m 43 years old, nothing has ever gone wrong with my phone line inside my house. Let’s see, $60 per year for about the last 20 years….

Another painless way to save a buck is to check with your power company and see if they have any energy saver credits. I have mine set-up so that on high-power use days, they have the option of shutting off my water heater for an hour or so. It cuts $3.00 off my bill. I’ve had it that way for 10 years now, and never been inconvenienced at all.

You can save a lot on food and household supplies by not buying name brands. You’d be amazed at the price range of laundry detergent and toilet paper. If my clothes aren’t getting clean, I sure can’t tell, and my rear-end isn’t chaffed, either.

And I second the suggestions that you buy in bulk. Your freezer is your friend.

Before buying an unnecessary item, I figure out how many hours I will need to work to pay for it. ARG! Suddenly whatever it is doesn’t look so tempting anymore!

Do you have magazine subscriptions? Do you actually read (and enjoy) them?

Things you will find painful:

I have a dial-up internet connection and switched to a service for $8.95 a month (Highstream). It works fine. That saved $12.00 a month. Do you really, truly need a fast connection?

I realized I really didn’t spend much time watching cable TV, so I cancelled that. Saves about $45 a month. I actually do miss the cable, but not $45 worth. Once I get my debts in order, I’ll sign back up on that one.

I guess the trick is to make sure you’re actually getting a benefit out of the money you’re spending. Some things just aren’t worth it.