The balance is important. I try to avoid spending on things that don't increase my wellbeing so that I have money left over to spend on things that do: like the ability to leave a crap job and not be in a desperate rush to get a new one, or to treat myself to a coffee or a meal when I'm with friends. It's not about avoiding spending as much as is physically possible. Here are ways that I save
Eating
In the morning before I leave the house I prepare meals in tupperware boxes. One box gets filled with a portion of a large batched meal I've cooked earlier. The other is a fresh salad I prepare. Here in the UK you can save a lot by buying reduced food. I find Tesco's reductions to be the best. I often try to go around 7pm and find lots of great food for around 10p - pastries, bread, vegetables. This gets put into the batched meal, next day's salad, or kept as a snack for the next day. I carry this food in my bag when I'm out which means I can last the whole day without having to pay for a takeaway or pre-made sandwich. One thing I do often buy when I'm out and about is bananas - they are so cheap! By eating reduced food I end up eating stuff I wouldn't otherwise buy. When the reduced food is not available I go back to some of my staples: lard (I fry in lard, not very popular but it is so cheap and a lot healthier than a lot of people think), onions (markedly improves any meal), potatoes, lentils, rice, vegetables, meat (it can be expensive so I try to get it reduced and cook it the same night, but I sometimes get get a whole chicken for around £3 which is great value), eggs, butter. Bread I can pretty much always get reduced which is great to filling me up when I'm around the flat. The salad I mix up depending on what I happen to have, but it can include carrots (grated), beetroot (grated), tomatoes, a garlic clove (chopped finely), ginger (finely grated), peanuts (they're so cheap and are a convenient way of making my salad or meal salty, I often find them too salty to eat on their own), olives (great value for money imo, and healthy), seasoned with coriander, tumeric, lemon juice and olive oil. I sometimes make coffee and tea at home, but when I'm out and about I stick to tap water. I'm amazed at how often people who are in the same financial situation as me buy takeaway stuff and soft drinks and to me they spend more, eat less and eat less well. I do eat quite a lot so if I paid people to make food for me I would end up spending a fortune. Also I'm something of a gourmand and quite health-conscious so I like having control of what I eat. Also there is nothing better to drink than water. People who buy soft drinks is truly an example of 'having more is less'.
transport
I live in a city so cycle everywhere. I would sometimes like to get a car but when I think about it it's a luxury I can't afford. When I think about the number of hours working minimum wage it would take to pay for all the costs of running a car - buying it, insurance, road tax, fuel, money set aside for repairs - I shudder. Again it amazes me how many people on minimum wage have cars. Public transport is expensive where I stay so I really do try to cycle or walk everywhere within the city, and I use megabus usually to go further a field.
Clothes
charity shops. They are great. I may not dress like a model on the front cover of a magazine but I have good clothes - pretty much everything in my wardrobe bar shoes, socks and boxers are second hand. We have such a throwaway single-use culture that there are so much quality goods second-hand - not just clothes. In using them you do not skimp on quality. The price of clothes varies in charity shops - some jeans and t-shirts can be £10 or more. I get most of my clothes from a charity shop where everything is £1. Boon!
phone
I bought my phone second hand unlocked and use giffgaff's £5/month deal. It gives me plenty calls/texts. The data is pretty low (1oomb) but wifi is in so many places that I keep it turned off. Occasionally I turn it on when I'm out in the sticks and need to look something up. I get by fine
accomodation I rent a room in a shared flat. Looked for the cheapest area that was within a cyclable distance to the centre. Room is not too big but that keeps me from cluttering it with unnecessaries. I'm amazed at what some people pay for accomodation, and at the huge price differences between places not that far apart from each other. It really does pay to shop around looking to rent a flat. You may think it's a letter's market, but there are many people on a tight budget who rely on rental income to pay their mortgage. You save so much by sharing flats/converting living rooms into an extra bedroom. Some people think it's extreme to share a flat with strangers (they're only strangers at the beginning)/skimp on living space. I think it's extreme to spend more than half your earnings on a place to sleep. The american dream is over.
Second hand
It's amazing how much you can save getting something second hand. Laptops, microwaves, backpacks - all so much cheaper second hand. It's true you can be missold a faulty item on gumtree, but if you keep your wits about you then it's unlikely. And the risk is part of the fun.
Minimum wage is pretty low, but by doing these things I can live well and still put money aside, and that feels pretty good. If I wasn't able to have money to play with at the end of the month, what would be the point of working?
Investing
It's good to have a nest for the future, but investing only takes me so far. Savings are always in danger of being eroded by inflation and taxes. In a way that's a good thing. People who miserably hoard their pennies, eyeing suspiciously anyone who offers them a service in exchange for their cash, maybe they deserve to have their savings decimated? Living off your savings is a sweet dream but only a small number of people will ever be able to do it. How else would all the things that need done get done? I don't need the constant worry of putting my savings somewhere that beats tax and inflation. Plus when you're earning min wage or thereabouts, the savings you can manage to put away will almost certainly never earn you that much interest. You're better off putting your effort into working more. That's the beauty of living frugally - you don't need THAT much money to live well. If the only job you find is one that you hate you can cut your hours or not work at it for so many years. If you find a job that you like and that pays well then that's a bonus, but nothing more.
Let me know the ways you save money whilst still living well!
January 19, 2018 at 08:36AM
