Hi - just thought I'd share some of my main strategies developed over a couple of years of abandoning my spendy ways. Hoping to hear more from you.
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Adopt a policy of not buying new things unless you answer the following question carefully and honestly: "What is the alternative to buying that new thing?" Alternatives to consider include 1. buying it used, 2. buying something else, 3. buying nothing and instead borrowing, or figuring out another work-around? Most of the time I end up buying nothing.
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Look for your large regular spending items, and grind them down relentlessly. Example: cell phone - if you're spending $100/mo, you can easily cut that in half. Then grind it down further - move cell carriers, reduce and eliminate data usage (use wifi more). Then move on to the next item: research it, learn it, and grind it down relentlessly.
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Write up a monthly budget, and update it once in a while. May sound boring, but it's actually interesting once you get into it, and it gets easier. And you can track your progress over time in getting over the culturally-ingrained consumerism habit.
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Stop going out for lunches and coffees. Going out takes more time (and costs way more money). Just bring your lunch and coffee.
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Reduce or eliminate car ownership. Walk and bike, if you can and want to be healthy. Take transit. And when you can't do any of that, you've got an entire fleet of taxis, uber / lyft, car-shares, car rentals, friends' and relatives' under-used cars -- literally thousands of vehicles. Put them in your monthly budget and use them. It's much cheaper than owning a(nother) car. And if you can't reduce or eliminate car ownership, look at why that's the case. If it's because of where you live, then look carefully into the economics of that decision (a "cheaper" house in the burbs may not be cheaper if it's costing you thousands of dollars per year in additional car ownership).
OK looking forward to your ideas.
July 27, 2017 at 07:16PM
