Living on less!

[Shell]

Check out these ideas on living on less. Do you think you could do it?

http://www.pbs.org/moneymoves/hot_to...ivingless.html

[guest2]

Well, considering that we already live on less than most people around us and we do everything they do excpt having built out own home, I think we might be able to teach them a thing or 2.

[homesteadmamma]

Well we too are living on less, in fact way less than the common ordinary person. In fact, way below the poverty line. So yes I know I can live on less and be quite content in doing so.

[graci42]

Dh came to me last week and we discussed him changing jobs as he is not happy w/ the co. he works for. I encouraged him to do what makes him happy.

He was concerned that money would be tight...heheheheheheh

I have NO problem w/ NOT spending money and have been trying to gently bend him to my frugal ways..hehehe


I live for the challenge frugality provides!
Not a problem

[Missy]

I would love to grow our own food and so on. I think we do well living below our means, even if DH and I do occassionally splurge.

[sunshine]

Holy moley! Saving $1600/month on food! I've never spent that much money to eat per month in my life-- even when I ate out 3 meals a day for a 2 week vacation, with 5 in our family!

And the clothing-- $1500/year? ? ? We spend around $600/year for the 5 of us, and that included my nursing scrubs/shoes and so forth.

We grow lots of our own foods - hunt/fish/trap for some of our meat. . . . make a lot of our clothes. . . .

[gkp1031]

I'm trying to put more $$ into savings and live on less each month. Once we buy our house, I'd love to grow a lot of our food. I'm always up for living on less, the more in savings the better

[canadian gardener]

Good grief!!!! Better get Guido out after them Shell!

While I agree with the general principles, this is like Real Simple magazine, it costs a lot before in their previous lives to save like this.

as all the above posters say, we too manage on less in our humble home.

And didn't have to move to San Diego to do it either. I get cranky when I read one of those WHEEEEE we grew all our own food articles and you look and it's a zone where if they cope with frost it's like a little hoar frost once a year, or once every ten years there is snow.

HOW BOUT A PRAIRIE GARDENER and a NORTHERN BC MAMA come down and show em how it's done!!!!!!!!! CJ, Strawberry, I KNOW you both can out frugal me even, but hey lets add in Shell, (she can bring Guido), me and a few of you northern states gals, hmmmm Susie from Minnesota and other colder spots!!!!!!!!

Don't get me started on those happy hippy articles on building your own home and saving. Those are always in those cheerleading articles featured in mags like Mother Earth News (which I like and I'm not knocking btw, it sells magazines!).

Reality bites, and stuff costs more than estimated. Even when as my grandad did, --many of the odds and ends came from the city dump where he cruised for things like sinks, bathtubs, and other houseparts going free. Or my Dad who has built and lived in several log homes.

If they really know what they are doing in building, fine, but you can run up the costs big time if you don't have carpentry experience or know how. And that is the first problem with an article like this, it makes it look easy. People who save like that usually take plenty of courses to prepare or have a lot of experience in the building trades even informally.

NEXT PROBLEM-- What this couple did is now illegal in most areas of the country rural as well as city!

Even in rural districts at the end of the powerline in Terrace BC my sister and bil have to cope with building inspectors and regs.

They don't let you just throw up a shell and live in it anymore. It's got to be up to code before you can start living in it. Which last I looked was like about 80% of the cost once you get the permit.

Plus there are now regs in every rural district that I know of to prevent the permanent tar paper sheathing that used to happen when siding was a frill that you put on 20 years later as you could afford it. There are codes you have to finish to within a certain time or you get fines and could lose the property. At least here in Canada there are.

Now if they have the money to start with, and a structure to live in and a forgiving county or rural district, then maybe, but this kind of savings is what wealthier people do.

It's usually cheaper for real live people starting with much less, to buy a pre owned home, and fix it up a bit and sell it for a profit, using some rules-- like buy low in a good neighborhood, don't buy expensive fix it's, just stick to stuff that a good coat of paint, some gyproc repairs and a new carpet will fix.

In other words, stick to a less ambitious project, and do that, and clean up similar savings with lots less risk.

HOKEY DOKEY, looking at the car-- I too drive till the wheels fall off. And we are down to one car and have been for quite some time now, since dd inherited our old beater, and sold it for parts, and bought a newer preowned vehicle.

As they do, we buy a pre owned vehicle in good shape, maintain it well and drive it forever till the cost of owning it is more than dealing with getting another one --again for cash.

So I've cut that cost in half again from them. I stay home lots, save gas, grocery costs and mall shopping costs too, not just the cost of running a second vehicle.

1,500 saved a year for CLOTHES!!!!!!!!!!!! hokey DINAH where DID they shop before!!!!!!!!

HOWEVER this is a good article, and overall the site seems to be right in the mainstream educating beginner frugals in stuff like reading labels, and learning why leasing a new car every 2 years isn't a good financial move.

Feels like Real Simple magazine though. Trendy frugality.

When I've got more time I'll poke thru the site some more. Wonder if he has some of the more extreme savings measures that are so helpful such as cloth sanitary pads, or learning to cut your own hair or hanging clothes to dry.