DIET:
- Going sober - the only alcohol I'm allowed to drink is what I've still got leftover. After that, none that I pay for myself.
- Eating at home before I go out, if I go out.
- Cutting meat from my diet almost entirely.
- Buying vegetables from the nearest fruit market, not the supermarket.
- Growing all the food I can on my balcony.
- Drinking tap water, and carrying a reusable drink bottle on me at all times.
- Cutting snacks. Using skim milk powder as a cheap protein powder to fill me up between main meals.
- Cooking in bulk and freezing meal portions.
- As I eat so many mushrooms, buying a $15 mushroom farm (my father bought the same one and has had constant mushrooms for months now)
- Reducing my coffee intake to a once-a-day treat
TRANSPORT:
- Walking! If it's within 3 kilometres of my house, and it's light enough outside to be safe, I'm walking. Otherwise, I take the tram and use my student pass. It's $2.05 for a single trip, or I can travel as much as I like for $4.10 per day.
- Bicycle for longer trips in good light.
CLOTHES:
- Patching worn out clothes
- Accepting hand-me-down clothes and shoes from friends (a lot of us wear the same size)
- Knitting my own scarves, hats ect (around $2 for yarn and two days work each)
- Buying $3/metre fabrics to make new shirts and dresses
- Only buying clothing if it's second hand, and if I cannot otherwise source/make it myself.
- No buying new jewellery, accessories etc.
GENERAL:
- Keeping a tool kit around the apartment and doing my own maintenance as much as possible.
- When in doubt, ringing my father (a tradie) to ask for advice on how to fix something, to avoid getting a tradie in.
- If I can't do it, call one of my tradie mates in to do it, they're usually happy to help out without charging too much.
- Using the low water level, cold setting with 1/4 of the washing powder recommended when doing the laundry.
- Air drying our clothes.
- Using blankets, not the heater.
- Reduced my phone plan from $45 to $30 per month.
- Sharing a $9 per month Netflix account between three people
- Reading books from the library
HEALTH/OTHER:
- I paid $37 for an implant in February last year and have not bought menstrual products since. Not all women are so lucky, but it works well for me.
- Due to an injury I am paying $13/wk at a gym to have access to the right equipment to stay fit. That's an expense I wouldn't necessarily recommend unless other options don't suit you. I'm also taking my daily showers there.
- Whenever possible, toughing out headaches, muscle soreness etc and avoiding buying and taking painkillers.
Not only am I spending less on things I don't need, meaning I can save more of my income, this additionally reduces my current cost of living by over $6000 per year.
May 14, 2017 at 04:55AM
