Teach me to live super cheap

In My Humble Opinion
21

my half of the phone bill is $12/month. So i can’t really cut anything there and if i could it would be so minor as to not really matter.

I dont buy brand name stuff at the grocery store. I usually buy things when there is a large sale or i have coupons, which are doubled here. Whatever is cheaper.

I have several mag. subscriptions, but i got them a year ago. A year ago you could get a 1 year subscription to stuff like Time, Newsweek, Popular Science, etc for about $2 a year. Sadly those days are gone now.

Do i truly need a fast connection? no, but its $22/month if the bill is split in 2. So i think that its more than worth it seeing how much time i blow on the internet either posting, reading, researching, or playing games.

Same with Cable tv, its worth the $23/month easily. These 2 are my main forms of entertainment.

22

Often it’s more expensive to own an apartment in such an area than to live far off and own a car.

23

Play Sony’s Everquest game and you’ll never have time to spend money. Seriously.

24

Say, did Teddy ever get any dates??
:dubious:

25

Funny you should ask! For the first couple of years I worked with Teddy, he was apparently celibate, and no, he neither sought nor got any dates. For the last couple of years that I worked with him, he lived with a girlfriend. To be sure, she was an unusual woman, but I mean that in a good way. She had known him many years before in the US, and in the intervening years had been a night club musician (with one of the most beautiful voices I’ve heard). Something of a free spirit, she joined Teddy in Korea for a couple of years before returning to the States. They are still in touch, but live several states apart.

Again, I don’t offer Teddy as an example for most people. I only mention him to illustrate the fact that there are many different perspectives on frugality. I wouldn’t like to live like Teddy, and I wouldn’t recommend that Wesley do so. But if one wishes to live uber-frugally, there are many ways to cut down. Most of us blow more money every month on luxuries than we really need to live on. Cutting down on expenditures means doing without certain things. In some cases, I think it’s worth the effort; in others, I don’t. Ideal would be somewhere between Teddy and the typical maxed-out-credit-card consumer.

If getting dates is your goal, Teddy’s lifestyle is certainly not the way to go. If your priority is saving money, maybe. If you’re aiming somewhere in between, well, aim somewhere in between. Wesley mentions luxuries that he “really cannot do without.” I respect that completely; I feel sure that there are even more luxuries that I’m not willing to do without. But uber-frugal, as I see it, means virtually no luxuries. Though not luxurious, beans and rice is still pretty good eating–for the first 2 or 3 months, anyway.

26

If you want to live frugally over the long term, consider cutting all television from your life. Watching TV seems cheap, but it colors people’s expectations of the world and makes a frugal lifestyle difficult. A book that explains some of this is The Overspent American. It really goes beyond the $22/ mo. for cable. Television is supported by advertising, because advertising works. We ALL think it doesn’t work on US, but maybe that’s a little optimistic. Once you are out of college and have a little more money coming in, living TV-free will help you stay focused on priorities and keep that money from being “disposable income.”

Planning to live car free is also a good idea if you want to be frugal. AAA estimates it costs an average of $.44 to drive a mile. And you will get exercise walking and biking places. Carrying your groceries home on foot is also a good incentive to plan exactly what you need and not splurge. I also find a long commute by car robs me of freedom, which you mention as your ultimate goal. When you take public transportation you can read or get work done or even socialize (YMMV, but I have done all of these). A short walk to work is ideal.

In conjunction with separating grocery and supply expenses, grocery stores are not a cheap place to buy supplies. Target or similar will have better prices. It sounds like you may already be buying those things at a warehouse club, anyway, but avoid picking up things like shampoo and soap at your regular grocery or drugstore.

Plan ahead for some of your long-term needs. Several people mentioned freezers as equipment favored by the long-term frugal. Keep your eyes and ears open over the next year or so, you can probably track down one someone is willing to give away when they move or upgrade. Be realistic about some additional post-college expenses (such as clothes) and take advantage of lead time to acquire these things as cheaply as possible.

Surround yourself with other people who support your frugal lifestyle, but have some contacts with others. If you unexpectedly need to borrow something, it’s good to have some “materialistic” friends who are likely to have a guest bedroom, sewing machine, SUV, etc. that you can repay with a home-cooked meal.

Good luck in your frugal endeavors!

27

I’m no expert on food here, but your expensive food problems could stem from the fact that you are eating 4000 calories a day. Now I realize that you are probably a muscular guy, but I know for a fact that I eat no more than 2000 calories a day, and I seem to do fine. If you have ever spent time in another part of the world, you’ll realize that we Americans eat very differently than other places. For instance, I grew up in the South. When my mother cooked a meal it would be, for example: Mashed potatoes loaded with butter and milk, some kind of beef, and also some kind of boiled vegetable. I am not expert at counting calories, but that’s gotta be at least 1000 there. If you go to somewhere like Spain, however, you’ll realize that they have a different attitude towards meat. Meat isn’t an everyday occurance for them, and they get along fine. Another typical Spanish tradition is to always eat bread with meals. No matter what, they always eat bread. It seems like they do it just to fill up. I don’t know about you, but when I was growing up in the south, we never ate bread like that. The only time I ever did was after loading it up with garlic and butter and toasting it. So I suppose the best suggestion I could give is try to fill up on bread rather than meat.

Since food is the main component of your expenses, do you care to explain what you eat, exactly? Maybe we can help.

Are you very active for fitness reasons? Do you have to stay active because of the calories you eat every day or do you eat that many calories because you are so active.

In many ways, it seems like an economic issue! 4000 calories a day can be expensive, so I suppose its a question of being less active and eating fewer calories, or figuring out a way to buy cheaper stuff.

28

Wesley, it sounds like you are on the right track simply by talking and thinking about living a certain lifestyle. I think one of the biggest mistakes we make is just doing things because everyone else does them, or our families have always done them, or it is just expected of us. Take your own path, do your own thing and make it fit you, and I think you’ll do fine.

As for my living frugally, I bought a house. It doesn’t sound like a frugal idea, but once the mortgage is paid, I’ll have virtually-expense free accommodation, and the value of the house is going to play a big part in my retirement planning. Not all frugal things seem frugal at first - sometimes you have to spend money to save money.

29

Mustard sandwiches can be surprisingly satisfying.

30

Thanks people.

Here is another 'ittle scheme im thinking of.

Buy gift certificate to grocery stores on ebay. Certificates usually go for about 80-90 cents on the dollar, meaning if i spend $150 a month total at kroger on food and housedhold, i will only spend 120-135 on the certificates.

Plus if i become good at finding and using coupons (and if i can combine them with the certificates) i could get $150 worth of stuff for $100 or so.
I think i like my car too much to get rid of it. however i may trade it in for a japanese auto someday due to gas & reliability issues. If i do that, then maybe i can have a car payment free for the next 4-5 years. my current car is already payed off but i bought it for 60% of blue book 2 years ago. However i dont know what the sellers market is like for used cars right now, so i dont know if i can resell it for the same price i bought it 2 years ago.

31

Well Wesley,

If you truely don’t care about image, and I don’t think you are, get a chevy sprint or a geo metro. Thos things get around 50 mpg. And I don’t know about you, but i love living frugally. I know its stupid, but I love being cheap. I was lucky enough to have parents that enough money to buy me most reasonable things, but I still live extremely cheap for some reason. Call it guilt I guess. I got a diesel VW from my parents a few years ago, and it gets 50 MPG. I LOVE not having to worry about that.

32

i would get a metro or a hyundai but i prefer a corolla due to the reliability factor in a japanese auto. Its always been my fear/understanding that once a US or Korean made car reached 100k miles it started falling apart. Then again, a hyundai or Metro of comparable mileage and year is about 60% the price of an accord or corolla. Somaybe its worth the risk as long as i buy a semi new (99 or newer with under 50k miles) model. The best deals i can find on Metros & Hyundais under those criteria are about 3000, Corollas are about 5500.

I used to look at Kias, but i kept hearing from owners that they had tons of reliability issues.

33

Maybe you are looking at it the wrong way. Instead of looking at how to cut back, you need to look at how to increase!

A big part of frugal living is learning how to utilize what others won’t or can’t.

College towns are fertile ground for dumpster diving, especially at semester or year end. Departing students toss all kinds of usable goodies, TV’s, stereo’s, microwaves, books, music, beds, couches, cookware…the list is endless. If you don’t have room in-house, consider renting storage. If you are diligent you could make a good enough of a haul to e-bay or resell for the entire next year.

I’ve been a life long dumpster diver. My latest and perhaps greatest haul was over eight hundred pounds of cheese and 250 pounds of Jimmy Dean sausage. The food was fine and the cheese has expiration dates for May and June of this year. Doesn’t matter though because I filled two full size freezers and have enough for several lifetimes of heart attacks! The reason the store dumped it is because their refrigeration failed overnight and they didn’t have other room to store the product.

There are a zillion ways to earn extra money in our throw away society, all you have to do is look around you. With a small investment in time and a bit of creative recycling you’ll never have to consider giving up your luxuries.

34

I try to spend $1 per 1000 calories as a rule of thumb. some beverages are not held to this rule as i buy and drink alot of diet soda (which adds about $20/month to food costs). When it comes to fast food i try to get 500 calories per $1 i spend.

i eat 4000 calories because normally i exercise about 40 minutes a day, 4-5 days a week (which in itself burns about 600 calories a session). Plus i weigh about 258 with a LBM of about 195, which is about 50 lbs more metabolically active muscle than an average male of my height.

I exercise for the benefits in mood, health, sleep & weight management

The food i eat varies depending on whether im trying to lose weight or not. If im trying to lose weight then pasta, bread, oatmeal, pancakes, granola. When im trying to lose weight i up my exercise to 50 minutes a day, 5-6 days a week and i eat 2800 calories a day. At that caloric intake (assuming my metabolism isnt slowed down from too much dieting) i lose about 2-3 lbs a week. So i can’t really cut down to 2500 or so as i’ve tried cutting down to 2500 a day and i started getting lethargic. however at the time i was also taking alot of Green Tea and doing 60 min. of cardio a day, which would boost my normal metabolic needs by about 1100 calories a day or so above normal. But thats just to show i can’t really cut my calories down too drastically, id be better off trying to get more calories per dollar than cutting caloric intake. When im not trying to lose weight i eat alot worse. pizza, fast food, peanut butter & jelly, etc. Its actually alot easier to eat cheap when you aren’t trying to eat low fat.

Food isnt the main component of my expenses as much as i think i spend too much on it. I probably spend about 6-8 a week on fast food but when you consider the per calorie rule i am only ‘wasting’ about $3-4 a week. I consider that expense to be worth it.

35

Check your email Bare

36

Done, but I guess I can reply here, others may be interested.

Legality is going to vary by location and very likely by individual dumpster. My own tiny community of 2000 souls is pretty understanding and dumpster diving while against the law is completely accepted. I imagine that if you were being a pig and throwing trash out of said dumpster and someone happened to notice, the local police might ask you to pick it back up and move on but I seriously doubt they’d consider it an offense big enough to haul you to the lockup.

There are some common sense rules and tools that will make it safer and more profitable.

Know your dumpsters well and check them regularly. Know when they are emptied and when you can expect to find the best stuff. If it is a store dumpster, try to get to know the person that dumps the trash. Those folks would be your worst competitors if it didn’t threaten their jobs.

Never physically get into a dumpster while you are alone. 98% of your finds can be fished out from the outside.

Handy tools are a shovel, homemade trash picker (stick with a hook attached), gloves, four foot step ladder, boxes to hold your finds and rope to tie the stuff on your vehicle. Always carry your tools with you, because if you have to go get them, someone else will have made off with your goodies.

As noted above, be respectful and don’t leave a mess behind you. If I find other trash scattered about, I always pick it up.

If the dumpster is signed no dumping, park your vehicle and work from the other side so you can always claim you didn’t see it. If it is locked or if someone chases you away leave the darn thing alone and find more fertile ground, there are thousands of dumpsters.

Avoid turning your own place into a dump. Just keep the stuff that works or can be easily repaired. Store it neatly so your neighbors or roommates don’t have a problem with it.

Never brag too loud about your finds or you’ll soon have more competition than you need.

Day or night? Depends, I always do my diving openly in broad daylight, although if I thought someone would be offended, I’d go at night. I find that many folks realize that what they are discarding has value to someone and will simply put it next to the dumpster for the express purpose of someone else to see and utilize.

Here’s a picture of part of my cheese score.

By the way, I took the picture with the Kodak digital camera I found in a dumpster and just needed new batteries.

I’m pretty well beyond the need to dumpster dive but I do aspire to be frugal in all things and it is a great hobby! I am constantly amazed at the good stuff folks discard.

37

If dumpster diving isn’t your forte, you might consider offering your services. Every spring I run an ad in the local paper for a few weeks offering to cleanout and haul off stuff for folks. Garages, attics, basements, whatever.

The best part is that they PAY you to do it! You want to look at the job carefully to determine what percentage is useful stuff and what is truly garbage and give them a bid.

You wouldn’t believe some of the stuff I’ve found over the years. I could start a community orchestra with the musical instruments I have including full size pianos.

Since one of the hats I wear is as a property manager, I can tell you that you should get hold of property management outfits in your area and offer your cleanup services. Many tenants leave entire households of furnishings behind when they move or are evicted. For most landlords it is a pain and they would love nothing better than to have a number to call to have someone haul it off. Don’t do it for free either.

38

You’ve gotten a lot of good tips and ideas from everyone who has posted, but I know how you can save the MOST money in the long run:
Don’t have any children. Each one costs about a gazillion dollars to raise to 18 (or 25, which is the now normal age to get kicked out of the parents’ house). Think of the money you’ll save on diapers alone! Not to mention college costs.
'Course, then you’d miss out on what I think is truly the most meaningful, gratifying thing in life. And no one to take care of you when you’re old!

Moral: there are all kinds of ways to save, and we all ought to be aware of exactly what we’re saving and what we’re giving up.

Sounds like you’re doing an admirable job. Have fun.

Pablito

39

hah, it’s funny because it’s true. EQ recently sent out 1 free month of usage for many old customers. My roommate has been hooked ever since. It’s ridiculous, but it’s actually saving him money.

anyway…
Ramen aint that bad,

http://mattfischer.com/ramen/recipe.html

lots of recipes.

Personally, whenever I’m too lazy to cook i just make a simple ramen meal. Cut up some sort of sausage, boil in water. After it’s boiling add the noodles and about 2/3 of the seasoning(I find beef works best). let the noodles cook then add in 1 egg(per package of ramen you use) and stir it. Add some frozen vegetables if you want.

Comes out pretty good, and it’s usually less then a buck to make. Depending on how much the sausage cost ya.

40

The gym has scholarships and sliding scale pay rates for the poor, so i am filling one of these out. with any luck maybe i can get my membership dropped down to $15 a month or so.