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15 June 2006
Help Me Create a Guide to Living Cheaply→[More:]Assume that the user has little to no experience living on his/her own, isn't familiar with anything, and has very little money and is perhaps a student or in another group living situation.
- When buying food, always buy the box/can/tin/bag with the store's name on it. It is almost always cheaper.
- When buying food, understand that the less preperation that you have to do, the more expensive it is going to be. This includes frozen and canned vegetables and frozen meat products, pizza, etc.
- On Sundays (in the U.S.), the newspapers have a section of food and household coupons. Clip coupons for things that you need and bring them to the store with you. Only use the coupons if the brand with the store's name on it would be more money.
- Never go to the store if you're hungry, you may buy more stuff.
- Every day eat a vegetable, a fruit, something dairy (cheese or milk), and something with protein (nuts, tofu or meat).
- Write your name on all of your food. The only food worth sharing with others are milk, butter, olive oil, salt and pepper.
- Cheap meals: pasta and tomatoes, potatoes, ?
- A bar of soap is cheaper than body wash.
HOUSEHOLD
- You don't need cable TV. Try "borrowing" wireless internet from your neighbors. If your housemates want cable TV, tell them to put it in their bedrooms and don't pay for it, don't watch it.
- When you set up your house telephone, do not get call waiting, 3 way calling, and TURN OFF LONG DISTANCE CALLING. Any long distance calls can be made with a calling card.
- Have a rule that everyone does their own dishes immediately after use and cleans up kitchen after using it.
- Have a chore wheel for common areas that has: sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, taking out trash, cleaning bathroom, ??
- Split the cost of these things evenly: toilet paper, paper towel, cleaning supplies, dishwashing soap, hand soap for shared bathrooms, ??
- Pay all of your bills on time, no matter what, it will not only affect your credit rating, but it will keep your household happier.
Great project, k8t. By the way, I'd suggest searching AskMeFi for similar threads. There have been many -- threads on eating cheaply, reducing household budgets, saving money -- and they're full of really good suggestions.
Go to the thrift store and buy Land's End, LL Bean and the like. You can return stuff and get credit using their competitive return policies (they'll let you return stuff, for a certain amount, no matter what its age or condition). Yes, I've done this.
A Costco membership is $50. Worth it, especially if you're living with roomates and can split stuff.
Very important: Make a budget that will work with your income. Stick to it. Include in the budget a small weekly allowance for fun things.
Don't eat out (except on very special occassions). Do not buy coffee by the cup. Do not own a car. Do not own a cell phone. Do not use your credit card.
And keep in mind that cheap healthcare is available through many clinics.
Make a meal plan and buy in bulk. You often only need half of something you can only buy whole (lettuce, cabbage, chicken, etc.) Make your meal plan so that you use the other half the following days.
Freeze your leftovers.
Example: Buy a chicken. Boil the whole thing and peel the meat from the bones. Make chicken soup using the stock and half of the meat. Eat half of the chicken soup and freeze the rest. The next day use the rest of the chicken meat for a pasta dish or whatever. Eat half now and freeze the other half.
I super-duper second the "do not buy coffee by the cup." I costed it out and brewing my own from fresh Jamaica Blue Mountain beans from my local mom&pop coffee shop costs less than buying from chain coffee places.
Pre-drink; drink at home/someone-else's home before hitting the bars.
If you don't know how, learn to cook. I got tons of "free" booze and free drugs in college sharing my food with other people. I've also had people buy the raw ingredients for me to prepare (and we all share the meal).
Beer is expensive. Liquor is cheaper per unit of alcohol. Secret hint I got from an old female alcoholic - sherry is the least expensive palatable unit of alcohol commonly available.
Also, consider home-brewing.
If you have a deep-freezer and upfront money, buying/splitting a cow from a local farm with another person = inexpensive but very tasty meat for the year.
Oh, yeah. You don't need all that stuff. Really, you don't need that USB lava lamp or decorative plates from Pier 1 or that gargantuan Sorny stereo system with a 800W subwoofer. You're car also doesn't need shiney spinners, fart pipes, and decals.
hellbient reminded me - lockpicking is also a really useful skill to have, especially at college. When people forget their keys/lock themselves out they usually either have to pay the RA to get in their rooms or a locksmith to get into their apartments. Knowing how to enter locked premises can result in free drugs or even (gratitude) sex.
This is more for people REALLY living cheaply (week to week) (recent refugees, etc.) -- so no drinking, working so much that there is no time for socializing.
I know that some of the mom&pop produce stores will sell stock remnants (not-pretty-looking but still perfectly good, but not for long) really cheap.
Mom&pop bakeries will also have day-old stuff (that's perfectly fine) steeply discounted.
Brocolli is a good source of iron - but you need to eat it with citric acid - brocolli and tinned pinnapple (steam/parboil brocolli, slightly brown the pinnapple, save the juice - add sugar to it, slowly add dissolved corn starch into sugared-juice at medium heat until slightly thickened. Throw them all togather) is an alternative source of iron if meat is too expensive.
Beans and wheat product, or rice and soy provide a complete source of essential amino acids.
Don't buy lunch - make an extra portion from the previous night's dinner. Alternatively, make a big batch of soup/stew/whatever and freeze.
Grocery bags can be reused as trash bags. Or, even better, some stores will give you a credit toward your purchase if you bring them back.
Margarine tubs and the like can be used to store leftovers, so you don't have to buy bags or tupperware.
Anything in prewrapped "individual" servings is generally more expensive. Plus it creates more garbage. Go for the least amount of packaging.
Drink more water. Not bottled water. Tap water. Invest in a filter pitcher if necessary.
Plan your menu for the week ahead of time. It keeps you from mindlessly eating out, gives you a focus for your food shopping. Check the circulars first so you can incorporate any food that's on sale.
Root vegetables, like potatoes and carrots, keep for a long time and can fill you up when there's nothing else in the house. Stock up.
Put leftovers right in the freezer. That way, you're not leaving them to mold in the fridge and there's always something to heat up for a quick meal.
When buying things like laundry detergent, figure out the cost per ounce. Often times with sales and coupons, it's actually cheaper to buy two smaller bottles than a large one. (I know this goes against the "buy the bigger package" advice, but hey.)
JUST BECAUSE SOMETHING IS ON SALE DOES NOT MEAN YOU HAVE TO BUY IT. It's not a deal if you don't want it, won't use it and/or don't need to have it.
Having lived like this for ages, I'd say yes on the bulk foods - rice, legumes, dried things (from soup and potatoes to berries). It takes a suprisingly small amount of beans to make a chili or baked beans dish.
Learn how to can. When different fruits and veggies are available at different times of year, a lot of stores will have things on for cheap. Say asparagus or strawberries. Buy a _lot_ of them. Can them. They'll keep. Alternately you can chop them up and freeze them in bags.
An extra thing to do with chicken/veggie/whatever stock - freeze it in ice cube trays, and then stick them all in a bag and take out three or four when needed (my Mom always did this).
Learn where to shop. In Vancouver, there are a lot of little markets that always get veggies cheap because they have deals with the people who grow the food. Example: Safeway, red peppers are usually 2.99/lb, sometimes higher. At the two corner markets near my place, they're usually 1.99, and if they're just about overripe, they drop to .99 or so. Great - buy a bunch and freeze them.
Bake your own bread. Learn how to make roti and eat the flatbreads with meals. This will fill you up faster, and will leave more for leftovers.
Condition yourself so that your first reaction to a newly perceived need is not, "Where can I buy it?" but "how can I use what I have to perform the function I would like to have?" I always felt the banana hanger is a classic example of this -- you shouldn't be thinking, "I need to buy a banana hanger," you should be looking around the house thinking, "What can I use to hang bananas?" It's this kind of lifestyle-altering thinking that will really help you spend less.
Join groups like Freecycle in your area. If there is something you absolutely need (saucepans or cups or whatever), post 'wanted' messages for them before buying - people have a surprising number of things like this lurking in their attics which they remember only when seeing emails asking for them!
MFK Fisher: How to eat a wolf. She's still right, fifty years on.
Also, my favourtie cheap-ass frugality (from an MeFi posting, I think): re-use your floss! After you finish up, coil it neatly in your hand, pour in a little 3% hydrogen peroxide to sterilize then hang dry until next morning. Super-Genious! You could save pennies a day!
The key to dressing well from thrift stores is hitting them often because the stock changes so quickly. But don't stay long and be incredibly picky. Never buy anything that is not exactly your size and in new condition.
Legumes are your friend. Make a giant pot of pea soup or chili or vegetable stew or such on Sunday and you have lunches for the week.
Do your shopping just before closing time, when you can often get cheaper items such as bread and some cooked food that won't keep for the next day.
You wouldn't need to worry about how to hang bananas here since Cyclone Larry hit and wiped out most of Australia's banana crops for the next couple of years - at $12 per kg or so, you can't afford them.
photo by splunge
photo by TheophileEscargot
photo by Kronos_to_Earth
photo by ethylene
